


A White Christmas

by Joe_Reaves



Category: Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Christmas, Dom/sub, Established Relationship, M/M, Plotty, Roleplay, moresome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-16
Updated: 2010-04-16
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:47:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan and Nick surprise Lester with a Christmas get-away, but an anomaly ensures things don't go entirely to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A White Christmas

Sir James Lester walked into the underground car park below the ARC and was immediately confronted by the sight of Professor Cutter and Captain Ryan leaning casually against his Mercedes, grinning like fools.

"What have you two been up to, and am I going to be fielding phone calls from the Prime Minister about it? Again." He looked from one to the other suspiciously, only getting more worried when their grins got even larger.

Ryan pushed himself away from the car and took Lester's briefcase out of his hand, stowing it safely in the boot. "Get in, James. We have to get to the airport in time to find ourselves a meal before the flight and traffic's going to be a bitch at this time of the day."

Lester looked at Ryan blankly and then at the car as if it was going to give him some answers. "Should I assume you've both gone utterly insane or is someone going to explain what the hell is going on?"

Cutter laughed and reached out to take Lester's hand, tugging him towards the car. "You have two weeks holiday starting now – barring apocalypses or Apatosauruses on Oxford Street. Stephen is in charge of the kids and Lyle and Stringer are in command of the soldiers and the three of us are flying up to Scotland to spend Christmas in a nice bed and breakfast." He smiled sheepishly. "Surprise."

Lester blinked, a thousand objections running through his mind, but then he saw the hopeful look on Cutter's face and the guarded one on Ryan's and he bit them back. Stringer and Lyle were perfectly competent, after all and with the help of Connor's database Stephen would be as capable as Cutter was and probably less combative. And he was the one who had trained Claudia. If he didn't have faith in her abilities then he'd failed. It was only two weeks after all, what could possibly go wrong?

He groaned mentally as the words crossed his mind. Tempting fate wasn't going to help anyone. He smiled at his lovers, both of whom were starting to look more nervous as he remained silent. "Thank you. So which airport are we going from and how long do we have to get there?"

Ryan allowed himself a small sigh of relief. He'd been a little worried that Lester wouldn't appreciate being blind-sided like this. "We're flying from City to Edinburgh and we don't actually need to be there for a couple of hours but I thought if we got there early we could have dinner in the Italian restaurant. It's after check in and security so we won't have to worry about rushing through the meal."

Lester gestured to the car. "Well then, let's get going. Are we supposed to leave the car there?" He hoped they hadn't arranged for anyone to collect it. He hated anyone but him, and occasionally his two lovers, driving his car.

"Ryan booked long-term parking for it. It's a complete rip off but he thought you'd prefer that to having Stephen take the car home again. Although why anyone would willingly pay nearly £150 just to park their car is beyond me," Cutter grumbled.

Ryan reached over and slapped the back of his head. "Stop complaining about the cost. The point is that we're going to have two very relaxing weeks and James isn't going to have to worry about anything and that includes his Mercedes."

Lester winced at the price and reached out to squeeze Ryan's arm gently. "Thank you. This is a wonderful surprise and very considerate of you. Now can we please get in the car and actually leave before Connor's detector goes off and we miss the flight?"

~*~*~*~*~

 

Lester slapped Ryan's hand away and picked up the bag they'd packed for him and stowed in the boot of the car earlier in the day. "I appreciate that the two of you have got it into your heads to pamper me on this holiday, but I am perfectly capable of carrying my own bag without straining anything, unless you've filled it with bricks."

Ryan chuckled. "Okay, okay, whatever you say."

Cutter rested his hand on Lester's back and smiled at him. "Come on then, let's get checked in and then we can have dinner. For the next two weeks you're not going to need to do anything. The bed and breakfast is near where my family used to live and I've stayed there before. You're going to love it."

Lester smiled back. "I'm sure I will. The two of you have obviously got this all planned so I shall simply follow your lead for now."

Ryan raised one eyebrow, but kept his mouth shut. If Lester wanted to take charge again later, he didn't mind. It wasn't like he hadn't known his lovers were both strong-willed men before he got involved with them. He slipped an arm around Lester's waist, tightening his grip slightly when the other man automatically tried to pull away.

"We're not at work now, James. We don't have to 'maintain an air of propriety'."

Lester sighed and then relaxed again. "All right, you do have a point. Provided you're not going to try breaking any public decency laws, I suppose we could relax a little over Christmas, but we go back to normal once we're back at work. I have enough problems keeping other civil servants from getting their greedy hands on my Anomaly Project without giving them any more ammunition."

Cutter briefly rested a hand on his back. "We know, James. Neither of us have any desire to have sex on your office desk. Give us some credit for being responsible adults, please."

Lester winced and then nodded. "I apologise. I don't mean to treat you like you're not and I know you both have as much to lose if someone else ended up in charge. After the debacle with Christine we all know how tenuous our grip on the project can be. I just ..."

"Over-react and insist on taking all the worry on your own shoulders rather than leaning on us," Ryan pointed out. "Strangely, we love you anyway. So for the next two weeks you can relax and let us take care of you for a change."

~*~*~*~*~

 

The alarm blared, jolting everyone in the building into wakefulness. Connor quickly closed the game he'd been playing on the big screen of the anomaly detector and called up a map instead, swiftly zooming in to pinpoint the anomaly and then cross-check it with their records of known anomalies to see if it was a new one or one they'd seen before.

Stephen jogged down the slope from his office where he had ostensibly been filling out reports but had actually been stretched out on the couch with a journal reading an article by one of his former classmates about spiders in the Patagonian rainforest. Resting one hand on the back of Connor's chair, he leaned closer, peering at the screen.

"Have we got any reports of suspicious activity in the area?" Claudia asked.

"Nothing's come in yet," Connor said, checking the program they'd set up to monitor official police reports, news reports, and internet discussions on unusual wildlife. "Shouldn't we call Lester?"

"No!" both Stephen and Claudia said hastily.

"He's on holiday until the New Year and I'm in charge," Claudia added. "We don't need to interrupt him."

"Oh, is that why Ryan and Cutter were looking so sneaky?" Connor asked.

Stephen looked at him suspiciously. "What would that have to do with anything?"

"Oh come on, I'm not stupid. Everyone knows the three of them are sleeping together, it's not a great secret."

Claudia winced. "I'm not going to be the one to tell them that. But yes, they've whisked him off to Scotland for ten days and none of us are meant to bother them."

"Where in Scotland?" Connor asked, sharply.

"It's meant to be a secret," Stephen started to say, looking at the monitor in horror as Connor called up the map again. "But it's just about where that red flashing dot is." He groaned and looked at Claudia. "Do you think we can get Lyle to call and tell them?"

~*~*~*~*~

 

Lester's phone started ringing before they'd even got out of the baggage claim area. Swearing under his breath, much to the surprise of both Cutter and Ryan, who hadn't realised he knew language like that, he dropped his bag and pulled it out, answering it with a worried frown.

He ignored the glares and disgruntled sighs from the people who had to walk around him to get out of the airport. "I'm on holiday. I don't care if Connor's set the building on fire, handle it yourselves."

Ryan and Cutter watched as his expression got more and more irritated as he talked. They were both trying to work out what was going on from Lester's side of the conversation.

"Why is that my problem, Lieutenant?" He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Have there been any reports of creature activity?"

There was a pause, during which Lester winced dramatically. "Don't say things like that! Didn't anyone ever teach you not to tempt fate?"

"Yes and you, Lieutenant. And please do tell Ms Brown and Mr Hart that I am well aware they volunteered you to make the phone call because they were too scared to do it themselves. I thought I'd taught Ms. Brown better than that."

He hung up and turned to look at his companions. "We'd better get that car you booked. I can't tell you exactly what Lyle said while we're in public, but it looks like we might be going on a little hike before we can check in, although what the hell they think we're going to be able to find in the dark is beyond me."

Cutter groaned. "The detector went off?"

"Unfortunately, and the situation is pretty close to the B &amp; B according to your assistant. They would like the pair of you to check it out and see if anything's come through."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I should have known something like this would happen. It was too much to expect we'd get two uninterrupted weeks. Did Lyle say if his thumbs were itching?"

"He didn't mention it. You can call him yourself once we've got the car and see if he can give you the exact map reference of the situation. I, for one, do not intend to spend all night traipsing around the Highlands in the dark."

"We could drop you off at the bed and breakfast first," Ryan suggested.

"Oh no, I'm not letting the two of you out of my sight. We'll do this together and then hopefully we can get back to the hotel and warm up." He wrapped an arm around Cutter's waist, smiling at Ryan as he did so. "Let's go and find that car and get going. The sooner we get there the sooner we can get into a nice, warm bed together."

Ryan chuckled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me, James. We are not going to let this ruin Christmas."

~*~*~*~*~

 

"What are we supposed to do if anything has come through the anomaly?" Lester asked, as Ryan manoeuvred them along the narrow, winding roads towards the coordinates Lyle had given him. "I mean, I suppose we could throw stones at it, but judging by the size of most of the dangerous creatures we've encountered so far, that's just going to enrage whatever it is."

"We either chase it back through or shoot it, like we normally do," Cutter said, not seeing what the problem was.

"Tom, would you like to point out the flaw in that plan?" Lester said, with a smirk.

"Well, British Airways have objections to people carrying guns on their planes and no matter how much you like my thigh straps, combat gear isn't exactly standard holiday attire..."

"We don't have any weapons?" Cutter asked, with a groan.

"We don't have any weapons," Ryan confirmed dryly. "We're going to take a look around and see if anything has come through, possibly check through the anomaly to see where it goes, and then either arrange for the local police to put a guard on it or call for help, depending how many things with big teeth we encounter. We're just doing the recon for the team, that's all."

"Do the creatures know that?" Lester asked. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, old boy, can you wait until we've contacted the local army before you try to eat us. We're just here to reconnoitre..."

Cutter chuckled. "If anyone can talk a dinosaur out of a meal, it would be you, James."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Let's not put it to the test. We're going to walk out there and see if we can find the anomaly, check for footprints, possibly take a quick look through it and I do mean quick, Professor." He drew out the title to make his point but then grinned to soften the words. "And then we're going to call Lyle and make it his problem again."

Pulling into the side of the road he turned the hazard warning lights on. "Let's hope no one crashes into the car. I daren't pull it off the road in case we get stuck. Are you sure you don't want to stay in the car, James?"

"I may be a little out of practice but I'm perfectly capable of keeping up with Cutter. Besides three sets of eyes are better than two and the sooner we can find the anomaly and check the surroundings for tracks, the sooner we can get to the B &amp; B. I have plans for the two of you." He grinned and Cutter laughed.

"Well, if that's not an incentive to make it back in one piece, I don't know what is."

Ryan grabbed a torch and a map out of the boot of the car and passed them to Cutter. "Try not to get us lost." Picking up the tyre iron, he hefted it experimentally and then nodded. "We'll take this as well, just in case. And I have a knife in my bag."

"Why did you bring a knife on a romantic Christmas break?" Lester asked, eyes twinkling with barely concealed mirth.

Ryan shrugged. "Didn't feel right not having any weapons at all." He rummaged through his luggage and pulled the knife and holster out, strapping them quickly and efficiently onto his leg as they watched. Cutter and Lester's eyes met and they both grinned before going back to watching Ryan fastening the straps. It was hard to be embarrassed about getting turned on by such things when you knew you weren't the only one.

"Right, I'm going to lead. Cutter, make sure we keep going the right way. You and James stay behind me. With any luck we should be able to see the anomaly as soon as we get over this hill. At least there is one advantage to doing this in the dark."

Lester nodded, resting his hand briefly on Ryan's shoulder before stepping back again. He was perfectly happy to let Ryan take the lead in this; it was his job after all.

Ryan locked the car and then started walking. He'd parked them as close as possible to the map reference Lyle had given him. He doubted Lester would be able to walk too far in this terrain in the dark, no matter what he said. He might be fit and have had past experience at hiking when he was in the army, but he was wearing a suit and smart leather shoes rather than combat fatigues and boots. He suspected Lester would really be regretting his insistence on coming along by the time they reached the anomaly site. He couldn't blame him though; he wouldn't have wanted to sit in the B &amp; B waiting for the two of them, either.

The grass crunched under their feet, already frosty even though it was only nine o'clock. Lester wanted to jam his hands in his pockets to keep them warm but he needed to use his arms to keep his balance on the rough ground so he didn't dare.

"Here." Cutter held his gloves out to Lester. "I'm used to this weather and I'm wearing more layers than you are anyway. Put these on so your fingers don't freeze off." He winked, a wicked smile just visible in the dim light. "I like your hands just the way they are and it would be a pity if you couldn't use them tonight."

Lester hesitated, not wanting to seem weak in front of his lovers, but eventually discomfort won out over pride and he accepted them. "Thank you. If I'd known we were coming to Scotland I'd have dressed more appropriately." He smiled at Cutter and got a warm smile in return.

"I know. And none of us expected to be tramping across the countryside. This really wasn't what we had planned when we whisked you away on holiday."

"It's the thought that counts, but feel free to make it up to me later." Lester winked and then turned his attention back to Ryan.

The soldier had reached the top of the rise and was surveying the countryside. "I'm amazed we haven't had dozens of reports of this. It's lit up like Blackpool Illuminations."

Lester scrambled up the last few steps and leant on Ryan's shoulder as he tried to get his breath back. "Bloody hell, I'd better call Claudia and get her to notify the police of a classified military exercise before we get Hamish Macbeth and his kin down here investigating."

He pulled his phone out. "You two go down and take a look around. I'll join you once I'm done. And watch out for predators. I don't want to have to watch as Tom finds out if that tyre iron really is a match for a T Rex."

"Yes, sir," Ryan said with a cheeky grin. "You know, you really are a bossy sod sometimes. I think we should see how good you are at following orders yourself later on."

Lester raised one eyebrow and looked at him coolly. "I think I'd rather watch you following orders, Tom." He turned to look at his other lover. "What do you think, Nick? Would Tom being gift wrapped and tied to the bed make a good Christmas present? I can see him now – all eager and desperate, willing to do whatever we wanted..."

Cutter groaned and adjusted himself. "A present for us or him? And don't put images like that into my head when we're supposed to be looking out for creatures!"

Lester chuckled. "Focus, Cutter. The faster you get this place checked out the faster we can take him home and play with him."

Ryan shook his head. "When you've quite finished with your double act, can we actually get a move on? If I have to freeze my arse off out here for much longer neither of you are getting anywhere near it."

Waving them away imperiously, Lester flicked through his address book and located Claudia's number, not even looking at the other men as he hit dial. This had the potential to be a PR nightmare if it got out. There was no way the three of them could keep curious locals away on their own and if anything had come through, it could be absolutely anywhere by now. Although as long as it wasn't leaving a trail of dead locals in its wake he could happily let it go and be someone else's problem. He hadn't planned to spend Christmas in the middle of nowhere but now he was here he wanted to enjoy it, not spend the holiday chasing creatures.

Ryan made his way carefully down the slope towards the anomaly, hearing Cutter following him with a lot less grace. "If there was anything here, you've scared it off by now," he teased, knowing that actually the torch-lit conversation the three of them had had on the top of the hill was far more likely to have actually scared off any wildlife in the area. "You're making more noise than a herd of buffalo."

"It's not my fault you've had some kind of elite special forces training in hiking in the pitch black, and I haven't," Cutter grumbled, stumbling as he finally made it onto level ground and ran into the back of Ryan.

Ryan caught him and steadied him before leaning close to brush a kiss across his stubbled cheek. "Swing that torch around a bit and see if you can find any tracks. Then if it looks stable enough you can stick your head through the anomaly and have a quick look around. That way we can tell Claudia what kind of creature sightings she should be keeping an eye out for."

Quickly, they checked the surrounding area, but the frozen ground and long grass weren't ideal for finding tracks. Only the very heaviest animals would be likely to leave tracks, so they weren't surprised when they came up with nothing. By the time Lester had made it down the hillside to join them, they had given up.

"Did you find anything?"

Ryan shook his head and dropped down onto one knee, gesturing to Cutter to shine his torch on the ground. "Look. It's frozen solid. Unless a Brontosaurus or something came through, we'd never be able to tell. I'm going to take Cutter through for a couple of minutes to look around. At least if we know when and where the anomaly goes, Connor can check his database and tell us what we're looking for. When we're done, I'll call Lyle and get him to set up a cordon. We can get people in from Redfern or Glencorrse to stand guard. It only took us a couple of hours to get here from Edinburgh and we didn't have military issue land-rovers or helicopters."

"I'm coming with you." Lester folded his arms and glared at both of them.

"There's no need," Ryan said hastily. "We'll be two minutes. Just long enough for Cutter to get an idea of the terrain and climate."

"Well then, if you're only going to be two minutes there's no reason for me not to come with you," Lester pointed out. "And if anything has come through already then clearly I'd be safer with the two of you than here on my own."

Cutter shot a worried look at Ryan. "What if the anomaly closes?"

"It looks stable to me and if you think it's going to close then neither of you are going anywhere." Lester raised his glare to the next level; the one he usually saved for politicians.

"There's no way to tell for sure if it will close or not, not without anything to measure the magnetic field," Ryan admitted. "I just don't want to risk getting you stuck in the prehistoric past."

"And you think I'd rather stay here and watch while it closes?" Lester asked, letting a touch of hurt seep into his voice.

Ryan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There really is no logical argument I can come up with to make you stay without making it sound too dangerous for us to go, is there?"

"No. If you're going to get trapped in the past, then I'd rather be with you than stuck on the other side of an anomaly." Lester frowned – he was starting to sound disgustingly sappy. He decided to blame it on the season, after all Christmas was supposed to be a time for sugary American sentimentality.

Cutter exchanged another quick look with Ryan. That was almost a declaration of love. In fact, from Lester it was practically a marriage proposal. "Fine, we'll all go, but we're really only going to be there long enough to look around. I don't intend to spend Christmas stranded in the past."

Ryan gripped the tyre iron more tightly and nodded. "All right then, follow me."

He stepped through the anomaly and automatically moved to one side so that Cutter and Lester wouldn't run into him when they came through. The sudden change from darkness to bright sunlight made him screw his eyes up. He shaded them with his hand, looking around to see if there were any visible threats, but everything looked calm and quiet. This was possibly the nicest landscape he'd visited by anomaly.

Cutter gave Ryan a couple of seconds to get clear of the anomaly and then followed him through, with Lester right behind him. They both came to a sudden halt when they realised it was daylight, looking around in amazement.

This was the first time Lester had ever travelled through one of the anomalies and he was amazed at how normal it felt to be standing here. Intellectually he knew they must be in another time, but other than the daylight, there was no visible sign of it – no herds of dinosaurs, no pterodactyls gliding across the skies, and no future predators trying to kill them. In fact, it was rather pleasant. There was a cool breeze blowing and they were standing on soft grass in a glade, surrounded by deep green woods.

He looked over at Cutter, smiling at the enraptured look on his face. "So when and where are we?" he asked curiously.

"I have no idea," Cutter admitted. He tried not to show his disappointment. He'd rather wanted to be able to pinpoint the time and place and impress Lester. "It's temperate, so we're probably not at the poles or on the equator. I can eliminate any of the time periods when the temperature was much higher than it is in our own time and obviously it's not an ice age." He shrugged. "The fact that there are trees and grass narrows it down a little but there's still millions of years to choose from. I'll describe it to Connor when we get back and see what he says."

"Oh well, it was worth a try." Lester bumped his shoulder against Cutters and smiled reassuringly, not sure what was depressing Cutter but wanting to cheer him up. "Come on, let's get back and we can talk to Lyle and Connor and arrange a cordon and then we can settle in to our room. I fancy a nice hot bath after all this tramping across the wilderness in the middle of the night."

Cutter forced himself to smile and try to concentrate on that. "Let's hope it's a big bath. We can share and then we can play with Tom."

Ryan chuckled and leant over to brush a brief kiss against each of their mouths. "Fine, I'm all yours tonight but you two have to act out one of my fantasies later in the week." He winked. "And I have a very active imagination."

The lascivious look he sent their way surprised Cutter into a laugh, just as Ryan had intended. Lester just smiled, feeling more relaxed than he had for a long time.

"You know I didn't realise how stressed I was feeling until you two kidnapped me. Even with this anomaly I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." He gestured to the anomaly. "Come on, let's go back before we really do end up stuck here."

Cutter led the way back onto the dark, cold, frosty Scottish landscape. As he stepped through the fractured light of the anomaly he shivered; it had been warmer in the past. Lester and Ryan soon joined him on the hillside.

Lester looked back at the anomaly, half expecting it to wink out of existence again but it stayed where it was, shifting and sparkling in the clear night air. He sighed – the anomalies really were very beautiful under the right conditions.

Ryan stepped between him and Cutter and hooked his arms through theirs. "Let's get far enough away to get a mobile signal and we can make our calls. I didn't see any wildlife around on the far side so we should be safe to leave it unguarded until Lyle can send in the cavalry."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Lester told him with a smile. "Claudia has the local police under her control already so it's just a case of keeping sightseers away until it vanishes again and I can't imagine anyone other than the three of us is stupid enough to be wandering around out here in the dark and the cold."

The three of them climbed back up the slope, arm in arm, stopping at the top to simultaneously pull out their phones. They exchanged grins at the action and then all dialled the ARC. Lester spoke to Claudia, Ryan filled Lyle in on what they needed, and Cutter brainstormed with Connor over what era it could have been and what creatures they might need to look out for. His conversation lasted twice as long as Lester's or Ryan's and when he finally hung up they were both watching him with indulgent smiles.

"What?"

Lester chuckled. "You're rather adorable when you're in academic mode."

Cutter rolled his eyes. "Oh get on with you."

Ryan reached out and pulled him close by the simple expedient of snagging the back of his belt and tugging. "James is right. Although it's possible he's entertaining some kind of strict professor and naughty civil servant fantasies. I think it's the public school boy in him," he teased.

Lester blushed and reached out to punch his shoulder lightly. "I'll have you know I went to the local comprehensive, Tom. I think your theory says more about you and your days at Sandhurst than it does about me."

"Well, maybe we can find out tonight," Cutter said, wrapping his arms around himself and leaning into Ryan's warmth. "Brrr, I think it's getting even colder. Let's get back to the car and find the bed and breakfast. I could do with a cup of tea to warm me up."

Lester nodded. "Definitely." He looked up at the sky. "It's getting cloudier as well. I hope it's not going to snow."

~*~*~*~*~

By the time they arrived at the B &amp; B the snow was coming down hard and fast and it was all Ryan could do to see where the road was. He parked next to the door with a sigh of relief. At least they could get indoors now and warm up. This really hadn't been the relaxing start to their holiday he'd planned.

The three of them grabbed their bags from the boot and hurried towards the door, slipping on the snow-covered path but all of them just about managing to keep their footing. The owner met them with a warm smile.

"Get caught in the snow, did you? The roads are treacherous in this weather. You're lucky you made it in before we got cut off." She pulled out two keys as she was talking and offered then to Ryan.

"Cut off?" Lester asked weakly. He had a horrible feeling they were going to be back out at the anomaly site tomorrow unless she was exaggerating.

"Oh yes, love. Roads are impassible after a good snowfall. But don't you be worrying yourselves. We've plenty of food and drink and there's an emergency generator if we lose power. We've never been cut off for more than a few days and that was in January. December snow's not as bad usually. You'll be fine." She smiled warmly and then came out from behind the desk. "Now you just follow me and I'll show you your rooms. There's the makings for tea and coffee in all of them if you want to warm up and plenty of hot water if you want a soak. You're the only ones staying over Christmas so breakfast is whenever you want it. Just give me a shout when you get up."

As she talked she led them up three flights of stairs to the attic. "Adjoining rooms and a bathroom to share, just like you wanted. Have a good night, boys, and we'll see you for breakfast."

"Thank you," Lester called after her, watching bemusedly as she bustled away. "Well," he said after she was out of earshot. "She's certainly friendly."

Cutter laughed. "Aye, that she is. But she'll keep out of our way mostly and we're up in the attic so we can't be overheard. I stayed here a couple of times with Helen when we were visiting my mam."

Ryan unlocked the doors and led them into the larger of the two rooms. There was a skylight in the roof which he thought would be nice to make love under if it was sunny. Right now it was covered with snow so he pulled the brightly-coloured blind down and shut out the night.

Cutter was busy drawing the curtains across the window as well. Soon the weather was shut out by the gaily-coloured yellow curtains and he looked around in satisfaction. "I love this place. It's so cosy."

Lester opened the bathroom door and peeked inside, smiling broadly at the large tub and the spacious shower. There wouldn't be room for all three of them in the bath but two of them could share it without causing a flood.

Coming back into the bedroom he smiled at the other two men. "Well, gentlemen, let's put the tea on and get comfortable." He walked over to Ryan and kissed him slowly. "Are you up for a game tonight, Tom?"

Ryan looped his arms around Lester's waist and then leant back slightly, letting Lester support some of his weight and looking down into the shorter man's face. "I already said you two could be in charge tonight. So what did you have in mind?"

Lester wrapped his arms around Ryan and slid his hands down to squeeze his arse. "Oh I thought a little role play, some submission, whatever else you're up for."

"I knew you'd be the adventurous type," Ryan said. "But I think we might be freaking Nick out a little."

Lester looked over at Cutter who was watching them intently, blue eyes impossibly wide and a flush creeping along his neck and face. He had a feeling that Cutter's sex life up until now hadn't been as exciting as it could have been.

"Make us all a cup of tea, Tom. We'll warm up before we do anything. I think right now my hands would rival Ditzy's." He held a hand out to Cutter. "Come over here and sit on the bed. I didn't mean to shock you. Is it going to be a problem if we want to play a little?" Lester stretched out on the bed and crossed his socked feet at the ankles, watching to see if Cutter would join him as he'd asked.

Cutter blushed harder, but joined Lester on the bed anyway. It was embarrassing to have to admit he was out of his depth with something that neither Lester nor Ryan seemed to consider anything more than a bit of fun. He suspected if he told them that the idea of role-playing struck him as very kinky, they'd either be amused or feel sorry for him. Neither reaction was one he relished. He did know that communication was the key to a good relationship though and he also knew he'd never be able to hide his embarrassment.

Rolling onto his side next to Lester, he propped himself up on one arm, looking down at his lover. He ran the other hand around the back of his neck, feeling the hit radiating from his skin and knowing his face must be bright red by now. "I'm not freaked out," he muttered, responding to Ryan's earlier comment.

"We won't do it if it makes you uncomfortable, Nick, but it's just a little bit of fun." Lester reached up and pulled Cutter into a slow kiss.

"No... I don't want you to not do it," Cutter said, choosing his words very carefully. "It's just not something I've ever done and I feel..." He shrugged. "I suppose I feel kind of embarrassed that I don't know what I'm doing."

Ryan perched on the other side of the bed, leaning over Cutter to pass them both their mugs of tea. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Nick. Neither of us are into anything that's hard-core kinky. At least I don't think we are..."

Ryan raised an eyebrow at Lester who chuckled and shook his head.

Ryan grinned. "Good to know. It's just a little something to spice things up occasionally. Try it and if you don't enjoy it we don't have to do it again."

Cutter busied himself drinking his tea and not looking at either of them. He knew they were right and it wasn't anything extreme, but it had taken him a while to adjust to having sex with the lights on when they'd first got together. Playing games in the bedroom was completely out of his experience. "I think I'm just uncomfortable trying something new," he admitted. "It's silly, but I don't like not knowing what I'm doing."

"It's not silly," Lester assured him. "It's only natural, but I promise you can't do this wrong and neither of us are going to make fun of you for not knowing something." He stretched up, moving closer so he could whisper in Cutter's ear. "Just think how much fun it'll be to have Tom at your beck and call, there just to please you, well us." He nipped at Cutter's ear before lying back down again and watching his face carefully.

Cutter smiled slowly. "Well, I suppose that could be fun." He twisted to look at Ryan. "And you don't mind?"

Ryan shrugged. "It's only a game and it's not like either of you are going to ask me to do anything I wouldn't enjoy. And I think next time is definitely James' turn." He winked. "We might even have to introduce you to spanking. I think he'd look hot with that sexy arse of his a nice pink colour."

Cutter blushed again but he could feel his cock stirring at the thought. Maybe he was kinkier than he knew!

"You are a dangerous man, Tom Ryan," Lester told him, but he was still smiling so Ryan wasn't worried.

"What did you have in mind for tonight?" Ryan asked.

Lester shrugged, finishing his tea and stretching behind him to put the empty mug on the bedside table. "I don't know. You as a slave, or servant maybe, belonging to Nick and me. You could bathe us and then use that gorgeous body to satisfy our every desire." His eyes twinkled and Ryan laughed.

"I assume I'd have to be naked for this? Do I get to have a nice hot shower after I've run your bath so I can warm up as well?"

Lester pulled him close for a long, slow kiss, trapping Cutter between them. "I'd have you in the bath with us if there was room. Maybe we could all shower together first to get clean and then you could run us a bath and pamper us?"

"You just want to have sex in the shower," Cutter teased, relaxing a little as the other two men teased one another.

"And you don't?" Lester asked, smirking.

Cutter grinned. "Well, I didn't say that." He stretched and then wriggled off the bed, putting his mug next to Lester's. "If Ryan's going to be our slave, does he have to undress us as well?"

"Now you're getting the idea," Lester said with a broad smile. "It's a good way to start." He sat up as well and gestured imperiously at Ryan. "Well? Get up and help Nick out of his clothing, boy, and then you can undress me. We'll shower together and then we'll allow you the honour of bathing us."

"Thank you, my lord," Ryan said demurely, muffling a grin as he looked down, trying to fake shyness.

Cutter couldn't help grinning at the picture he made – Ryan really did make an awful slave. The fact he wanted to do it to make them happy was a turn-on though. Maybe there was something in this role-playing thing.

He held his arms out and let Ryan undress him slowly. He was pretty sure that undressing someone didn't usually involve quite so much groping, but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

He watched as Ryan carefully folded the clothing and left it on a stool near the foot of the bed and then moved over to Lester's side and started undressing him as well. When Ryan dropped to his knees to take Lester's socks off, Cutter sucked in a breath. He was always struck by how stunning his lovers looked together and how lucky he was to have them.

Once Cutter and Lester were both naked, Ryan stripped his own clothing off, dropping it on the stool next to theirs.

"What should I do next, my lord?" he asked Lester.

"Go and put the shower on and then you can bathe us, boy."

When Ryan had disappeared into the bathroom, Lester pulled Cutter into a loose embrace and kissed him, moaning softly as their naked bodies pressed up against each other along their entire lengths. They only broke apart when Ryan interrupted them.

Clearing his throat softly, Ryan waited in the door of the bathroom, his eyes still appearing to be lowered, although in reality he was watching the two men through his lashes. His cock filled slowly at the sight and he licked his lips. "My lords? Your shower is ready."

Cutter took a deep breath and tried to get into his role. "Are you going to bathe us?"

"If you wish, my lord."

Lester pushed Cutter gently towards the bathroom. "Let's get in the shower, Nick, I'm still cold from that hike across the countryside."

Cutter stepped into the shower, followed by Lester. They waited for Ryan to join them and then pulled him between them. Lester handed him a cloth and the shower gel.

"Bathe us, boy."

Cutter watched as Ryan carefully washed Lester, clearly intent on teasing the other man as much as cleaning him. By the time he was done, Lester's cock was hard and leaking. Cutter almost moaned in sympathy when Ryan 'accidentally' brushed the back of his hand against it, knowing just what that must feel like to Lester.

"Now bathe Nick," Lester said hoarsely. "Then if you're a good boy you can suck us before you run our bath."

Ryan licked his lips sensuously. "As you wish, my lord."

Now it was Lester's turn to watch as Ryan teased Cutter. Ryan started at his neck and slowly worked the cloth lower, washing his chest and brushing the slightly rough fabric of the cloth across Cutter's nipples. Then he moved even lower, but avoided the hard cock, concentrating instead on washing Cutter's feet and legs. He brushed the cloth teasingly across Cutter's inner thighs but still avoided his cock. Then he stood up and urged Cutter to turn around, studiously ignoring the groan that forced from the other man's throat.

"You are a wretched tease, Tom Ryan," Cutter muttered, but he turned around anyway, letting Ryan play his game.

Once again Ryan started at Cutter's neck and moved lower with agonising slowness. He slid it between Cutter's legs again, teasing the perineum and then back along the cleft of Cutter's arse, teasing his hole before moving it away and washing his legs.

Cutter put his arms out and braced himself against the wall, spreading his legs slightly, trying to encourage Ryan to do something more.

Ryan stood up. "Well, my lords? What can I do for you now?"

Cutter turned around and yanked him into a hot, hard kiss, rubbing his aching cock against Ryan's thigh.

When he finally let go, Lester put pressure on Ryan's shoulders, encouraging him to kneel down. "I think you should suck us now, boy. If you're as talented at that as you are at bathing someone we might just let you come later on."

Cutter smiled when Ryan reached down and squeezed his own cock tightly, obviously trying to fight off an orgasm. "I think you're enjoying yourself a little too much. You should be concentrating on pleasing us."

"He's right. If you can't control yourself I'll have to find something we can use as a cock-ring to make sure you don't come without our permission." Lester looked at him coolly. The calm, controlled look on his face a stark contrast to his straining cock.

Ryan lowered his eyes to the ground again. "I can control myself, my lord. I promise I won't come without permission."

Cutter moaned. The idea of Ryan's orgasm being under their control really shouldn't be as hot as it was. He rested one hand on Ryan's sandy hair. "James told you to suck us."

"Yes, my lord." Ryan leaned closer and ran his tongue over the head of Cutter's cock, before pulling back and doing the same to Lester. Both men were holding his head now and he loved the way their hands tugged his hair slightly whenever he turned his head.

He alternated licking and sucking one cock and then the other, loving the way the men would groan whenever he pulled away from one cock to tease the other.

Lester growled in frustration. He gripped Ryan's hair more tightly and thrust his cock into the other man's mouth, plunging in until he felt the head hit the back of Ryan's throat and then pulling back again. Ryan desperately tried to suck the hot flesh as it pushed roughly past his lips.

Cutter tugged Ryan back towards him as soon as Lester's cock fell from his mouth, urging him to take his cock in now and suck it. When Ryan didn't protest he thrust inside, not as roughly as Lester had, but with no less urgency.

Between them they soon set a rhythm where one of them would push forwards, fucking Ryan's mouth and then, when he pulled back, the other would take his turn. They were both grunting and gasping for breath as the water dripped off their faces and ran down their bodies and Ryan's wicked mouth teased and tortured them, taking them closer and closer to the edge.

Then one of them pushed when he should have pulled and they both thrust into Ryan's mouth at the same time, stretching his mouth so wide that his jaw ached and caused his teeth to scrape across their sensitive lengths. Ryan groaned and struggled not to choke as Cutter and Lester cried out almost simultaneously, filling his mouth with their come as they both came from the combined sensations of pleasure and pain.

Ryan jerked his head backward, feeling the sharp, painful tug on his hair as he pulled free of their hands. He gasped for air as the hot water washed the come from his face. Coughing weakly, he scrubbed the back of his hand across his mouth and then looked up at his lovers, blinking as the water hit his face. "Did that please you, my lords?" he asked hoarsely, a smug smile slowly spreading across his face as he saw that both men were shaking and holding themselves up by leaning against the tiled walls of the shower.

Cutter shook the water out of his face and looked down at Ryan, an apology forming on his lips for how rough he'd been, but faltering at the pleased expression on his face. It didn't look like Ryan wanted him to be sorry. "Fuck," he gasped.

Lester rubbed one hand across his face and pushed himself upright again. "It was adequate," he admitted, biting his lip as Ryan didn't bother to hide his amusement at the insufficient praise. "Go and run us a bath, boy. I want to relax for a while." When Ryan had pulled himself to his feet, Lester squeezed his arse. "And then while we bathe, you can get the bedroom ready. I want to fuck this tight little arse later."

Cutter groaned again. "Oh yeah." He cupped Ryan's cheek and kissed him softly, tasting his and Lester's come in the other man's mouth. "I think we should both fuck you later. You seem to enjoy being taken hard, Tom. We'll have to see what we can do to satisfy you."

Lester slapped Ryan's arse. "Run the bath, boy. We can discuss your kinks later." He grinned and Ryan laughed.

"Yes, my lord." He winked at Cutter and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist hurriedly. He turned the taps on and poured some bubble bath under the running water. If Lester wanted to soak and relax with Cutter, then bubbles seemed appropriate.

Turning back to the men in the shower, he moaned. They were wrapped around each other, still under the spray, fingers tangled in each other's hair, kissing deeply and slowly. He rummaged through the cupboard and found two large bath-sheets. Hanging them over the radiator to warm he cleared his throat again. "Would my lords like to get out of the shower and into the bath or are they planning to spend all night swapping spit?"

Cutter pulled away from Lester, laughing. "You know for a slave, he's a cheeky sod, James."

"I'm beginning to think he wants that spanking he keeps threatening me with." Lester raised one eyebrow and looked at Ryan.

"Payback's a bitch," Ryan muttered. "Even think about it and you won't be able to sit down for a week, James."

Lester bit back a laugh. "Did you say something, boy?" he asked coldly.

"No, my lord," Ryan said more loudly, lowering his eyes again.

Cutter turned off the shower and he and Lester stepped out onto the soft bath mat. "Are we meant to be sharing the bath, James?"

Lester nodded. "I thought it would be nice to soak in the hot water while Tom waits on us." He looked at Ryan. "I assume you brought lube with you. Find it and put it on the bedside table, get rid of the dirty mugs and turn the main light off so the room is just lit by the glow from the smaller lamps. Then turn the bed down ready for us. We'll call you when we're ready to get out of the bath."

Ryan rolled his eyes but stayed silent. Lester was enjoying bossing him around far too much. Holding out his hand, he took Lester's hand and helped him into the bath. Then he did the same for Cutter, smiling fondly as he immediately settled against Lester's chest. Quickly turning the taps off, Ryan leaned forwards and kissed Cutter slowly. "I'll set the bedroom up for you, my lords. Just relax and warm up while I get things ready."

Before Ryan could straighten up, Lester wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him close for a hard, hungry kiss. "Don't prepare yourself. I want you to feel it when we fuck you."

Ryan groaned and shuddered. He loved it when things got slightly rough between them and Lester knew it. Cutter was generally much more controlled, but even he could be pushed over the edge occasionally and Ryan had enjoyed every moment of it on the rare times that it had happened. "Whatever you say, my lord."

Cutter licked his lips as Ryan stood back up, his face flushed, and his lips slightly swollen from the kisses and the earlier blow jobs. The thought of taking Ryan hard and fast and not taking care of him first was arousing. He usually liked to be gentle and considerate in bed, but he'd seen the other two being rougher with one another and it intrigued him.

As Ryan left the room, Lester leaned down and traced Cutter's ear with his tongue. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? Having Tom at our beck and call, being able to take your own pleasure without concentrating on whether he's enjoying it too? He's getting off on it as well, trusting us enough to follow our orders, having us want him so much that we have to have him..."

Cutter groaned and let his head fall back against Lester's shoulder. "Fuck, you have a dirty mouth sometimes, James. Yes, it's hot. I didn't know it would be. I can't wait to see him spread out on the bed, wanting us to take our turns with him." He shivered.

Lester chuckled. "A little fantasy can be a good thing. I can't do anything publicly with either of you, but once we get back why don't you go out and pick him up in a bar, pretend you're strangers..."

"Is that a fantasy of yours?" Cutter asked astutely. Suddenly he had an idea. "Maybe I will and I'll film it for you, you can watch it when we get home."

Now it was Lester's turn to shiver. "Christ, yes, please. I'd love to see that." He nipped at Cutter's ear before soothing it with his tongue. "Would you film the sex as well? I'd love to have a tape of the two of you together."

Cutter blushed, the idea of being filmed during sex was hot and embarrassing at the same time. "Maybe we'll do it for your birthday," he teased. "After all we have to find something to top this holiday."

Lester slowly slid his hand along the length of Cutter's torso, feeling the muscles tense and jump as his fingers ghosted over them. Closing his hand around Cutter's cock, he started stroking it slowly, wanting to arouse the other man but not get him too excited yet. "I'd love that. I like watching you when you're together."

Cutter arched up, splashing water everywhere, trying to get more contact from Lester's hand. "You really are a kinky bastard, James."

"I think underneath that innocent exterior, you could turn out to be pretty kinky too, Nick," Lester told him. "I like knowing we're the only ones you've experimented with like this though. It's very sexy."

Cutter moaned and grabbed Lester's wrist, holding his hand still. "I think it's time to get out of the bath and see what Tom has been up to, don't you?"

"Boy! Come and help us out of the bath," Lester called.

Ryan came in immediately, obviously having been waiting for the call. Carefully, he pulled Cutter to his feet, steadying him as he climbed out of the bath and then picking one of the heated towels up and drying him with it. He used the towel to tease and arouse as much as to dry, paying careful attention to Cutter's thighs, arse and dick.

Eventually, Cutter snatched the towel away from him and wrapped it around his waist. "Help James out of the bath and stop trying to drive me nuts," he grumbled.

Lester let Ryan pull him to his feet and then slapped his arse gently. "I think I'll dry myself, boy. You're enjoying teasing us far too much."

"But I thought you liked it when I teased you, my lord?" Ryan said, muffling a laugh and batting his eyelashes in an attempt to look innocent.

Cutter snickered. "Innocent really isn't a good look on you, Tom."

While Lester towelled himself off, Ryan emptied the bath and tossed the wet, used towels into it. Then he hung the bath mats over the top of the shower door to dry.

Lester threw his own towel into the bath and then advanced on Ryan. "Go and stretch out on the bed, boy. On your stomach so I can see that tight arse of yours. I'm going to slick my cock and shove it into your arse in one thrust and then I'm going to fuck you so hard you're going to taste it when I come, but you'd better not lose control or I really will spank you when I'm done. You're not going to come until Nick does."

Ryan groaned and nodded, his cock bobbing eagerly as he moved. Lester knew what he liked and was pushing all of his buttons with this act.

Cutter bit his lip. Listening to Lester talk like that and watching Ryan's reaction was turning him on like nothing else. At this rate he wasn't going to be able to stay hard long enough to play his part in this little game.

Ryan led the way back into the bedroom, stretching out on the bed like he'd been told and spreading his legs eagerly. His cock was so hard it was beginning to hurt and it was going to take all his willpower not to come the second Lester entered him.

Lester and Cutter followed him, admiring the view as his arse moved away from them. When he was in position on the bed, Lester pulled Cutter close for a long, slow kiss, exploring his mouth unhurriedly. He knew that waiting for him to do something, not being able to see what they were up to, would turn Ryan on even more. There was definitely something to be said for anticipation. Finally he pulled away, reluctant to let Cutter's mouth go, but unable to resist Ryan for much longer.

"Stretch out on the bed next to him and watch," he told Cutter quietly. "When I'm finished with him, I want you to be able to slide straight in and give him what he needs. He's going to be so desperate to come by the time you're inside him."

Cutter moaned and took a long, calming breath. "You're a wicked man, James."

He lay on the bed next to Ryan and ran one hand teasingly along his spine as he watched Lester open the lube and coat his cock. Cutter had never fucked anyone without preparing them and he couldn't see how it could be good for Ryan, but he wasn't stupid and he could see how much Ryan wanted this, so he was content to watch and learn.

Lester knelt on the bed behind Ryan, who spread his legs further as he felt the bed dip under Lester's weight. He urged Ryan up onto his hands and knees and lined himself up with the small hole. Steadying his cock with one hand, he gripped Ryan's hip tightly with the other and then, without warning, thrust forwards hard, burying himself balls deep in Ryan's arse in one movement.

Ryan cried out and lowered his head. The burn was painful, but the sudden full feeling was so satisfying and his cock hadn't softened at all.

Lester bent down and bit Ryan's shoulder gently. "Stay still, boy," he ordered hoarsely. Slowly he pulled back until only the head of his cock was still inside Ryan's arse and then thrust roughly back in again. Even though he'd already come once, Lester was hard and aching and not in the mood to draw this out. He took Ryan hard and fast, pounding into the eager body beneath him, conscious only of his own arousal and the inexorable race towards orgasm.

Cutter bit his lip, his own hand stroking his cock slowly as he watched them. It was hard and brutal, but from the way Ryan's muscles were straining as he fought to stay still and the way his cock was bouncing against his stomach, a slender trail of fluid trailing from the head to his tense abdomen, Ryan obviously didn't want it to end.

A strangled gasp from Lester drew Cutter's attention to him. His eyes were open but unfocussed, the pupils so dilated that Cutter could barely see the ring of colour around them, and sweat was dripping from his face to Ryan's arched back. He was obviously close and Cutter suddenly wanted to do more than just watch.

Reaching out, Cutter slid his hand between Lester's legs and fondled his balls as they drew up closer to his body.

Lester cried out as Cutter's calloused fingers caressed the tender sacs and came, burying his cock as deeply in Ryan's arse as he could as he shuddered and jerked with the force of his orgasm.

His legs felt like jelly as he forced himself to pull out and collapse to one side rather than landing on top of Ryan and flattening him. "Your turn," he gasped, blinking at Cutter as he tried to focus on him.

Cutter groaned and rolled from his back onto his knees, shuffling across the bed until he was behind Ryan. Running his thumb over the stretched opening he couldn't resist asking, "Is this what you want, Tom?"

Ryan spread his legs even further and lowered himself to his elbows, pushing back eagerly and impaling himself on Cutter's thumb. "Fuck yes. Just do it, Nick. I want you to fuck me."

Cutter bit his lip, squeezing the base of his cock sharply to stop from coming just from the words. He pushed his cock slowly into Ryan's body, only the lube and come from the first fuck easing his way, and let out a shuddering breath as the other man's body gripped him tightly. "Christ, you feel good."

He didn't take Ryan as fast as Lester had, wanting to make it last as long as possible. He thrust in and out of the tight passage, feeling Ryan's muscles contracting and releasing jerkily as he fought not to come without permission.

Ryan's moans were muffled by the pillow, but he pushed back against every stroke, leaving Cutter in no doubt as to how much he wanted this. He knew Lester was probably watching them and it made his cock ache even more. He desperately wanted to come by now, but they hadn't told him he could and he was going to hold on until then no matter what. He wasn't going to let himself be bested by a civil servant and an academic. Besides he was going to use this against James when it was his turn and dare him to hold out as long as he had.

Cutter reached down and gripped Ryan's cock roughly, dragging his attention back to the present and the man who was fucking him. He stroked it in time with his strokes, squeezing much harder than he normally would; gentle touches feeling out of sync with the current mood.

He pulled almost all the way out and then forced himself to pause. "Are you sure you want this?" he teased.

Ryan let out a sound that he would never admit was a whimper. "Fuck, Nick, please! You're killing me."

Cutter growled and slammed back in again, tightening his grip painfully around Ryan's cock and coming with a loud shout.

The feeling of Cutter's orgasm combined with the sensation of his cock being squeezed tightly finally defeated Ryan's restraint and he came with a low, hoarse moan, before collapsing onto the bed as his legs turned to jelly.

The breath was forced out of his lungs as Cutter landed on top of him, but he didn't have the energy to complain about it, let alone move.

Eventually, Cutter pulled out with a soft pop and rolled to one side, his face red and sweaty as he gasped for breath.

Ryan felt a hand stroking his back soothingly and minutely pressed into the touch, knowing it must be Lester. "Fantastic," he said quietly. "If we keep this up for the entire holiday, we're going to need another holiday before we're fit to go back to work."

Lester leaned down and kissed his way slowly along Ryan's spine. "I'm sure we'll recover in time to get back to work. There's something to be said for slow, gentle sex as well." Spreading Ryan's arse gently he ran his tongue over the reddened entrance.

With a soft gasp, Ryan pushed back, trying to get Lester's questing tongue inside him. "Christ, you're trying to kill me!"

Lester laughed softly, the vibrations drawing another gasp from Ryan. "We got to come twice and you only came once, it's only fair that we see if we can get you going again."

Ryan moaned and spread his legs further, letting Lester do whatever he wanted.

Slowly and teasingly, Lester traced his entrance, pushing his tongue inside at random intervals and lapping at the come leaking from his hole.

Ryan shivered and buried his face in his folded arms as Lester slowly aroused him again.

Gripping Ryan's hips, Lester urged him back up onto all fours as he kept licking his arse. He thrust his tongue deep inside Ryan's body and then pulled back, tracing the outline of his hole with just the tip of his tongue, never setting a rhythm so that Ryan could never predict what he was going to do next.

He felt movement beside him and looked up to see Cutter moving closer. As he ran his tongue along Ryan's cleft, Cutter slipped his hand between them and gently rolled Ryan's balls in his hand, keeping his touch as light and teasing as Lester's.

Ryan wriggled, his cock filling as his lovers teased and caressed him. "Please!"

Cutter twisted around and slid under him, taking Ryan's cock in his mouth and slowly swallowing it. He took it deep in his throat and then pulled back and fluttered his tongue against the head, still stroking and fondling Ryan's balls with his hand.

Ryan was trapped between them, unable to decide whether he should push back onto Lester's wicked tongue or forward into Cutter's hot mouth. His breath was coming in harsh pants now and his arms were shaking from the effort of holding himself up so that he wouldn't squash Cutter.

Some signal must have passed between the two men because suddenly Cutter swallowed him whole at the same time as Lester pulled back and thrust two fingers deep inside him, rubbing insistently against his prostate. He cried out loudly, clamping down tightly around Lester's fingers and came down Cutter's elastic throat.

Lester held Ryan's limp body up until Cutter could slide out from underneath him and then he let the semi-conscious man collapse onto the bed again. Sliding along Ryan's sweat-slick body Lester spooned up behind him and wrapped one arm around his waist, holding him close while Cutter pressed up against Ryan from the other side, pressing a gentle kiss to his temple.

Ryan moaned and his eyes fluttered open slowly. "That's it. I am dead. Put something appropriate on my tombstone, please."

Lester chuckled and stretched to turn the lamp off at the same time as Cutter pulled the duvet over the three of them. "Sleep well, Tom."

Ryan muttered something unintelligible, already drifting off to sleep between his two lovers.

Cutter wrapped his arm over Lester's, stroking his wrist gently, before stilling and falling asleep as well to the sound of Lester and Ryan's sleepy breathing.

~*~*~*~*~

 

It was dark and cold. The sudden change from day to night, and summer to winter, confused it, but it was a survivor. It needed to find food in this strange new world. Scenting the air, the dark shadow practically glided across the countryside. There were fewer trees than in its usual territory, but the darkness would make up for that. Instead of using the trees to ambush its prey, it would be able to creep closer under the cover of darkness.

Its whiskers twitched and it turned its head. The wind was carrying it the scent of food. Lots of food. Breaking into a slow, loping run, it covered the ground between it and its prey at a steady speed. Only once it was close enough to hear the soft, bleating cries of this strange new prey animal did it slow again.

Creeping on its belly across the frozen ground it approached the wooden barrier that separated it from its meal and then it paused. The barrier wasn't very high and it should be able to drag a corpse over it without any trouble. The danger would be in getting trampled by the prey animals, which were tightly packed within the enclosure, huddling together for warmth and for protection.

Circling the enclosure it picked its victim carefully, choosing one which was near the outside of the group and looked like it would be easy enough to bring down. In one swift leap it cleared the barrier and landed on its prey, ripping the creature's throat out in a single move. The animal struggled briefly but soon its frantic movements slowed and the heartbeat stopped as its blood soaked into the earth.

The other prey animals were making more noise now and scrabbling to get as far away from it as they could. As long as they weren't getting closer he could ignore them. There was a light from not too far away and something was coming towards the enclosure making a loud noise. It didn't know what this new creature was but it wasn't acting like prey.

Grabbing it's meal, it leapt onto the top of the barrier, hauling the animal over and dropping it on the ground. Suddenly there was a flash and a loud bang and it felt something fly through the air close enough to ruffle its fur. Panicked, it dropped its meal and turned tail, running across the fields, counting on the darkness to hide it as it made its escape. Whatever the noise was, it didn't want to encounter it again, but it had lost its prey. It would have to try again soon. It needed meat.

~*~*~*~*~

 

Ryan woke up and stretched, finding himself trapped between his two lovers. Carefully, he wriggled free, knowing from experience that very little would wake either of them up before the alarm went off. He stood up and stretched, wincing slightly. His arse was still sore and his jaw was aching slightly from last night's activities.

The room was still dark, although there was a pale glow coming from the edge of the curtains that suggested it was daylight outside. He used the faint light to make his way across the room and into the bathroom, waiting to turn the light on until he'd closed the door behind him.

They didn't have to go to work and no one's mobile phone had gone off overnight, so he was going to let them sleep until they woke up naturally. None of them got to do that very often so they should definitely take advantage of the opportunity over the next two weeks. He pulled out his can of shaving foam and his razor and started to shave in a leisurely fashion.

Once Ryan was done he filled the basin and washed his face and hands, feeling himself slowly waking up as he went through his morning routine, much more slowly than he normally had to. It was nice to shave and wash without feeling the need to rush. Once he'd cleaned his teeth he felt much more human and he stretched again, still feeling the pull of overused muscles in his arse and lower back.

He opened the door a crack and peeked into the bedroom, checking that his lovers were still asleep. Once he was assured that they were, he closed the door again and dragged the wet towels out of the bath, tossing them into the corner of the room, and pushed the plug into place. Turning the hot taps on full blast he poured more of the bubble bath into the swirling waters, watching as it turned a delicate shade of blue.

Once the bath was full, he sank into the steaming water with a sigh, leaning back and resting his head on the end of the bath and closing his eyes. A nice, long soak would be just the thing to ease his sore muscles.

~*~*~*~*~

 

Cutter woke up and rolled over, blinking sleepily as he remembered where he was. Looking around he could see Lester was still asleep, but Ryan had vanished. He sat up to check the other man's clothes were still there and he hadn't done something stupid like gone for a run in the snow. There was a sliver of light coming from under the bathroom door, so he assumed that Ryan was in there and turned to focus his attention on Lester instead.

Reaching out, he ran his hand lightly along the other man's back. Lester wriggled slightly and made a sleepy snuffling sound that Cutter found adorable, but he didn't open his eyes or seem to really wake up at all.

Cutter chuckled and moved onto step two of his plan to wake Lester up. Leaning closer he blew a stream of cool air across Lester's ear. That earned him an irritated grunt and a sleepy flap of Lester's hand, but still no real sign of Lester actually waking up.

Apparently he was very soundly asleep, which probably wasn't all that surprising after the previous night's exertions. Cutter trailed kisses across Lester's shoulder and slid his hand further down Lester's body to squeeze his arse gently.

Lester made a sleepy sound that Cutter couldn't interpret and then rolled onto his side, eyes slowly fluttering open. "Ugh, what time is it?" he groaned.

Cutter twisted to look at the clock. "Nearly ten. Ryan's in the bathroom I think. Want to get up and join him?"

Lester rolled onto his back and stretched. "I suppose. I wouldn't mind some breakfast so we have to get up at some point. Want to share a shower with me, Nick?"

Cutter nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He wrinkled his nose. "I feel all scratchy and icky after last night."

"Me too. Come on, let's go and tell Tom we're awake and then we can have that shower." Lester got out of bed with his normal grace and then looked over his shoulder at Cutter. "Coming?"

Climbing out of bed a lot more clumsily than Lester had, Cutter stretched and groaned. "Last night was exhausting. I don't know how Tom is even moving this morning."

"Well, he is a lot fitter than either of us," Lester pointed out. "And quite a bit younger," he added ruefully.

Cutter smiled wryly. "Maybe we should stop comparing ourselves to a member of the special forces and just be happy he's ours. Because even at my fittest I couldn't compete with Tom."

Lester opened the door to the bathroom and smiled at the sight in front of him. Crossing the room he kissed Ryan's cheek gently, not at all surprised when the other man didn't even flinch. He didn't kid himself that he could surprise Ryan. "You shaved."

Ryan opened his eyes slowly and smiled. "I did. I was just lying here waiting for the two of you to drag your lazy arses out of bed." He wrinkled his nose. "I hope you're both going to shower, you need it."

Cutter snorted. "Good morning, we love you too!" He turned the shower on and waited for it to heat up. "Just for that, you don't get to join us in the shower."

Ryan just waved them away lazily. "I'm fine here, thanks. But get a move on, I could eat a horse."

Lester sighed. "You make him submit for one night and he comes over all bossy the next morning..."

Sticking his tongue out, Ryan closed his eyes again and pretended to ignore them.

Stepping under the water, Cutter ran his hands through his hair, slicking it back from his face. Quickly rinsing the remnants of last night's fun from his body he moved to one side so that Lester could do the same. He grabbed the shampoo before Lester could reach for it and urged the other man to turn around. Pouring a good amount onto his hand he put the bottle done and then dumped the shampoo onto Lester's head. Gently he massaged it into Lester's hair, drawing a soft sigh from him.

Lester closed his eyes and relaxed, letting Cutter take care of him for once. He loved the feeling of Cutter's strong fingers massaging his scalp and he was almost disappointed when he finished and rinsed the shampoo away, but on the other hand it did give him the opportunity to turn the tables. He turned around and kissed Cutter briefly on the lips, before picking up the shampoo bottle and starting to wash Cutter's hair.

Both men were concentrating so much on the feeling that they'd almost forgotten Ryan was still in the room. He'd opened his eyes again and was watching them avidly, the steam on the shower partially obscuring their silhouettes and making everything more erotic than it would have been if he could have seen them clearly. He started stroking his cock slowly, licking his lips as he watched them.

When Cutter's hair was clean, Lester turned him around again and pressed up against him, kissing him with more hunger than before. He pushed his hand in between their slick bodies and took their cocks in a loose grip.

Cutter moaned into the kiss and thrust into Lester's hand. He lowered his hand to join Lester's on their cocks and they started rubbing up against one another as they stroked and squeezed their cocks. They were both moaning and panting as they slowly worked towards orgasm. Wordlessly they seemed to agree that this was not something that needed to be rushed and they gentled their touches, not feeling any urgency in their need this morning.

Ryan bit his lip as he watched them, keeping his own movements slow and steady, wanting to experience everything with them rather than coming in a hurry. A nice long leisurely bath, followed by a nice long leisurely wank seemed a good way to start the first full day of their holiday.

Lester tilted his head, deepening the kiss but keeping it unhurried. He explored Cutter's mouth, re-learning the things that made him groan. When they finally broke apart to breathe he started trailing kisses along Cutter's as yet unshaven jaw, feeling the rough burn of stubble against his lips.

Gradually their movements intensified, their joint grip getting harder and the stroking getting faster as they came closer to the edge. Lester gasped and forced his eyes open again, looking directly into Cutter's as he came.

The feel of Lester's come shooting over their fingers and hitting his stomach, before being washed away by the pounding spray, was the final push Cutter needed and he came as well with a low moan.

Watching them, Ryan's hips jerked upwards, splashing water over the floor as he thrust into his own fist and came. He rinsed his hand in the bathwater, wiped himself down with a cloth and then slowly climbed out of the bath, sitting on the edge of it as he recovered from his orgasm.

The sound of the water shutting off made him look up in time to see Lester and Cutter leaving the shower. He licked his lips as he watched them. He loved watching them move around in the nude. They were both good-looking men.

Lester caught him watching and smiled. "Did you enjoy the show, Tom?"

Ryan laughed. "I always do." He stood up and stretched, grinning as both men followed the movement with interest. Then he grabbed a towel and dried himself off. "I'm going to get dressed and go downstairs to tell Mrs Maguire we're ready for breakfast. Meet me downstairs when you've shaved and dressed and everything."

"Yes, sir!" Lester said and then winked. "We'll be down as soon as we're done. Don't order me too much breakfast. I'll wait until lunch for a proper meal."

"Right so two heart attacks on a plate and one order of toast and coffee, okay Nick?"

"Sounds good. If you can't spoil yourself on holiday, when can you?" Cutter smiled at him and then turned around to find towels for Lester and himself as Ryan left the bathroom.

~*~*~*~*~

Ryan jogged down the stairs, whistling under his breath, and practically bumped into Mrs Maguire in the lobby. He came to a sudden stop and smiled cheerfully at her. He'd been told in the past that when he really smiled, it was one of his best features.

"Good morning."

"Morning, honey. Will you boys be wanting breakfast now?" She smiled back.

"Oh yes please. I'm starving." He rubbed his tummy for emphasis. "Nick tells me you do the best breakfasts. We both want one of those. James is worried about his girlish figure and just wants toast and coffee." He winked and she laughed, flicking him gently with the tea towel she was carrying.

"You go and sit down, honey. I'll bring the tea and coffee through while I cook. No newspapers today I'm afraid, the snow has cut us right off, but I reckon it'll clear up in a day or two."

Ryan looked out of the window at the thick layer of snow covering the ground. It was still falling so that meant not only could the soldiers they'd called in not make it through by road, they weren't going to be able to fly in either. He sighed. "Better make that three breakfasts, there's something we need to go and check on and it looks filthy weather for walking. James is going to need something more substantial than just toast inside him."

Mrs Maguire looked worried. "You shouldn't be going out in that. You can get lost dreadfully easy out there, especially in the snow. And besides there's something out there eating livestock – we don't want you coming back with a bite out of you."

Ryan groaned and tried to look sweet and innocent again. "What kind of something? You're not going to tell me you're haunted by the Hound of the Baskervilles now are you?"

She glared a little. "We're not all superstitious fools up here just because we live in the country. Old man Campbell had a run in with something last night. He got a shot at it but it ran off. Now normally I'd say he's been on the whisky a little too much and it was just a fox, but it took out one of his ewes and dragged the poor beast over a wooden fence after ripping its throat out. He's got the corpse to prove it. His wife called me this morning to warn me to keep the cats in for a bit if I don't want them vanishing."

He held his hands out placatingly, he hadn't meant to upset her. "Sorry, it was just a joke, but we really do need to go out there and check into … something. Can you give us directions to the Campbell farm? I think Nick's going to want to talk to him as well."

She sighed. "Fine, well I suppose you know what you're doing and Nick Cutter's a good boy, he knows what the country's like round here. He won't let you go out unless it's really necessary. I'll make your breakfast and write out directions for you, but you be careful. And be back before it gets dark or I'll call mountain rescue out."

"Yes ma'am. I promise we'll either be back or we'll call to tell you where we are. We'll all have our phones with us."

She nodded. "Good boy. Now sit down and I'll bring you your tea."

~*~*~*~*~

 

By the time Lester and Cutter got down to the dining room, Ryan had commandeered one of the larger tables and spread an ordinance survey map out on it, weighting the corners down with salt cellars and pepper pots. They exchanged a worried glance.

"Tom? What's wrong?" Lester asked.

Ryan looked around quickly to check that Mrs Maguire hadn't come back into the room again. "We're snowed in and it's still falling. There's no way the cordon can have been set up – the low cloud cover would stop the helicopters getting in. This is where we were yesterday," he said, pointing to a mark on the map. "And this is a farm belonging to a Mr Campbell. Last night something got into the pen he puts the sheep in when it snows and killed one of them. Then it dragged the corpse over the fence. He shot at it and it ran off. None of the native wildlife could have done that."

Cutter groaned. "So I assume we're going for another hike?"

"I'm going to call Lyle after breakfast, see what he says about back up, but I don't think it's likely that we'll see them for at least another couple of days. We'll talk to Campbell and see what he says about this mystery creature and then you and Connor can get together and figure out what it is." He smiled at Lester, realising he'd somewhat taken over his lover's job. "If that's all right with you."

Lester sighed. "It'll have to be. Not how I planned to spend Christmas but until the soldiers can get through from Edinburgh there's nothing else we can do. I'll come up with something we can feed the locals... We'll stick close to the truth. We're investigating rumours of a wild animal sighting. Cutter is a zoologist on assignment with the Home Office, that's true enough anyway, and we got a call asking us to investigate because the official team couldn't get here and we were unlucky enough to be on the spot. You're just here by coincidence so you're helping us out. Nick and I can be colleagues and you're just a friend..."

Cutter and Ryan nodded. "Sounds good. It's almost the truth just with a few details omitted for security," Ryan agreed.

When Mrs Maguire reappeared with their tea and coffee, all three of them were bent over the map looking serious.

"I take it you're all insisting on going out then?" she asked, putting the mugs down on the edge of the map.

Cutter smiled at her. "Unfortunately. There's supposed to be an official team coming in to check into the animal attack. There have been rumours of some kind of escaped exotic animal out here. But since we're snowed in and we were 'lucky' enough to be on the spot, James and I have been co-opted to look into it. Ryan's getting dragged along for the ride."

She hummed softly. "If you say so, but your friend here was already investigating before the two of you knew anything about it." She looked at Cutter searchingly. "If that's the story you want to go with though, I'll believe it. You're a good boy. Try not to get yourself into trouble out there. I'll bring my Dan's shotgun out after breakfast and you can take that with you. Old man Campbell scared it off with one last night, so it should keep you safe."

~*~*~*~*~

 

When Claudia walked into the break room, Lyle was stretched out on the couch, trying to catch a nap. He blinked at her and then rubbed his eyes and struggled into a sitting position, trying to come to a vague approximation of attention while not actually getting up.

"Have you been here all night?"

Lyle grunted and then rubbed his eyes again. "Trying to arrange the cordon we wanted. Apparently the army doesn't work in snow, well the bit of it stationed in Scotland doesn't, which is somewhat annoying given the amount of white stuff they actually get up there. Too much snow for them to drive out to the anomaly and the cloud cover is too low to fly them out there."

Claudia ran a hand through her hair. "So the guys are on their own? At least we haven't had any reports of creature sightings yet."

"You know what Lester always says about tempting fate ..." Lyle was interrupted by a bleep from his mobile phone. Checking it he rolled his eyes. "Ryan sent me a text. Apparently, there's something eating the local sheep. They're going to go and check it out. He wants to know if there's any chance of their back up leaving their nice warm barracks and joining them or if they're going to be freezing their arses off in the snow on their own."

Claudia winced. "Oh dear. I don't think Lester is going to be..." Her phone rang, interrupting her. "... very happy," she finished weakly before bringing the phone to her ear. "Good morning, Sir James. How's the weather up there?"

She blushed and held the phone away from her ear for a second. "I assume that means it's still snowing," she teased. "Lyle's doing his best but if they can't get to you there's nothing much we can do."

She waved her hand at Lyle until he figured out what the random hand gestures and strange faces meant and handed her a notebook and a pen. Scribbling the details down, she nodded and made several affirming noises. "Yes sir. I'll keep you informed and I'll tell Connor to be expecting a call from the Professor. And sir … try to stay safe."

She put the phone back in her pocket. "They're going to interview a witness and then try to track the creature. Cutter's going to call us with what they find out and hopefully Connor will be able to figure out what they're hunting before they find it." She looked at her watch and groaned. It was only ten o'clock. Today was going to be a very long day.

~*~*~*~*~

 

Ryan took one look at the state of the road and decreed that they were going to have to walk to Campbell's farm. "I'm not risking driving in that. We'd end up in a snow-bank somewhere."

Lester sighed. "I had a feeling you were going to say that. At least I'm dressed for it this time."

The three of them had got changed after breakfast. They had dressed warmly and packed emergency supplies in case they got stranded somewhere. Lester had been the most difficult one to kit out as most of his casual clothing was either too thin or something like jeans that would hold water and make it more likely he'd get sick if he got wet, but eventually he'd found something in his bag that passed muster with Ryan and they'd all trudged back downstairs again.

Mrs Maguire had insisted on making them all Thermoses of hot drinks to take with them and packing them an amount of food that Lester privately thought could feed an entire army. She'd also brought out her husband's shotgun and all the spare ammunition he had, which Ryan had taken gratefully.

"I have to admit," he told the others once they were out of earshot of the B &amp; B. "I'm going to feel a lot better confronting a prehistoric predator with a shotgun than with a knife and a tyre iron."

Ryan set a slow, steady pace, knowing that walking through snow would be a lot harder than just walking across the grass would have been and Lester was severely out of practice when it came to hiking. Lester kept himself fit, but he still spent most of his working life behind a desk and what exercise he did get happened in a nice, warm, dry gym.

The snow was still coming down and visibility was very low, so Ryan was very careful to keep them all close together. He didn't dare risk them becoming separated. He could see why Mrs Maguire had been so worried about them, but with an unknown creature roaming around the landscape he knew they didn't have any choice.

Cutter reached out and wrapped his arm around Ryan's waist. "Stop thinking so hard, Tom. The farm's only a couple of miles away. We should be there in less than an hour and I bet Mrs Campbell will make us all sit down and have a cup of tea, with a shot of something stronger in it, while we talk to her husband. If we're lucky, she'll have been baking and there'll be something to go with it as well."

"Do you know the Campbells?" Lester asked, finally putting together some of the things he'd noticed earlier but not paid any attention to at the time.

Cutter shrugged. "Not really. I know of them, though. Mam and Da had a smallholding not far from here. The Campbells were their neighbours. I sold the farm after they died, but I still try to get up here every couple of years on holiday. Helen never used to like staying at the farm, it wasn't comfortable enough for her and she never got on with my mam anyway, so we used to stay at the B &amp; B whenever we visited."

"So that's why the landlady thinks you're a 'good boy' then," Ryan said with a smirk. "You must have been on your best behaviour whenever you stayed there and your mum clearly wasn't a gossip, because no one who really knew you would think you were good."

Lester chuckled. "I must admit, good isn't an adjective I'd usually use about you, Nick." He smiled slowly. "Except in the bedroom, of course."

Cutter blushed, just as Lester had known he would, and ran a gloved hand over his face. "I don't imagine anyone would call you good either, James. Stubborn, sarcastic, bossy, terrifying maybe, but not good."

"Ah but I don't have cheerful Scottish landladies telling all and sundry that I'm a good boy," Lester pointed out, still smiling.

As they were talking they had been climbing up a small hill and they all paused when they got to the top, looking out over the view or what they could see of it through the falling snow.

"Well, I'm sure this place is beautiful in the summer..." Ryan muttered.

"Maybe we can try this holiday thing again over Easter," Lester suggested. "Because much as I appreciate the planning the two of you put into this, the execution is definitely lacking something."

"You mean you didn't want to spend your time off trekking through the snow chasing something with lots of teeth?" Cutter asked. "And I thought you had a sense of adventure."

"I do. It's currently freezing to death," Lester told him. "How much further is this farm we're heading for anyway?"

Ryan checked the map and then looked at his watch. "We should make it there in another half an hour or so. You're doing really well, James. No one would guess you're a government paper-pusher." He smiled brightly as Lester glared at him.

Without a word, Lester turned and started stomping down the hill as fast as he could manage, not even looking to see if they were following him.

"That wasn't very nice," Cutter scolded Ryan.

He just shrugged. "It got him moving again and I can always make it up to him later. Come on, let's get a move on. I'm looking forward to that tea you said she'd make us. It really is brass monkey weather out here today."

"This is nothing," Cutter told him. "You want to be up here in January or February."

"No, Nick, I really, really don't." Ryan followed Lester down the hill, leaving Cutter trailing along in his wake. He didn't care if Cutter did think he was a soft southerner, this was not his idea of a good time.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The Campbell farm really wasn't much to look at. The farmhouse itself looked like it was one good storm away from falling down, although Cutter knew that looks could be deceiving. While Campbell obviously wasn't interested in how the place looked, the roof was probably sound and the walls sturdy. There was an even more dilapidated garage that was sheltering an old land-rover; the car clearly visible through the green wooden doors which were hanging slightly open as their hinges would no longer properly support their weight.

The nearest field to the farm yard had a large wooden pen in it, full of sheep. Campbell had probably brought them down from the hills when the snow started last night. It didn't look like he had a lot of other livestock around and it would be a long trek in the snow to feed them so it was easier all around if they were close to the farmhouse.

Ryan was already making his way towards the enclosure when the door to the house opened and the end of a shotgun was pushed out.

"What are you doing on my land?"

Lester gestured for Cutter to approach, hoping that his accent and familiar name would convince the man to put down his gun.

Cutter glared at Lester, but took a few steps towards the house. "Uh, Mr Campbell? My name is Nick Cutter. We're staying at the B &amp; B down the road and Mrs Maguire told us about something killing one of your sheep last night. I'm a zoologist. I was hoping you could tell me more about what you saw..."

The shotgun lowered a little and the door opened further, revealing a man who looked like he was in his late sixties, with white hair and a scruffy white beard. He was wearing overalls that looked like he'd spilled every substance he'd ever touched down the front of them, and a slightly threadbare yellow shirt. "You here to tell me I'd just had too much to drink?" he asked, sceptically.

"I don't think any amount of whisky would have you hallucinating a dead sheep," Lester said genially. "We really are here just to listen to your story." He smiled hopefully. "And it was rather a long walk from the bed and breakfast so if we could come in to talk we would really appreciate it."

Campbell was abruptly pulled out of the doorway and the shotgun was snatched from him by a pleasant-looking woman, a little plump, also wearing slightly shabby clothes, but with an open, friendly face and long, brown hair, speckled with silver.

"Are you Muriel Cutter's boy?" she asked.

Cutter nodded and smiled. "Aye, that's me. Can we come in? It's pretty cold out here."

"Of course you can, lad. Come in and sit down and tell me your friend's names. Would you all be wanting tea? Maybe with a little nip of something to keep the cold away on the walk home? I have some scones fresh from the oven if you think you could eat a little something..." She bustled around the kitchen, taking their coats and hanging them up and then filling the kettle with water and putting it to boil on the stove.

Ryan sat down at the wooden table that dominated most of the kitchen and smiled up at her. "You're a lifesaver, ma'am. I don't know about Nick, but I'd love to try one of those scones."

"Well of course you would, lad. You're all growing boys. You just sit there and let me find you some of my jam to go on them."

Her husband rolled his eyes. "Mary, none of them have been 'growing boys' in at least a decade. Now, who did you all say you were?"

Lester smiled at him, slightly bemused by the way Mrs Campbell was treating them. "I'm James Lester. Nick and I work for the Home Office. This is Captain Ryan. Since the roads are impassable and we were unlucky enough to be spending Christmas in the area, we've been recruited to check out reports of a wild animal in the area. If it's big enough to kill one of your sheep, then it could be a danger to the public."

"Never had anyone call in the army over an animal sighting before," Campbell said doubtfully.

Ryan grinned up at him disarmingly. "Oh they haven't now either. I'm just here to make sure Nick and James don't get lost or eaten or anything. If I was here officially I wouldn't have had to borrow a gun."

Large mugs of tea were plonked down in front of the three men and they were quickly followed by a plate of scones, knives, at three jars of different home-made jams.

"Oh, this is lovely, Mrs Campbell. I haven't had home-made jam since my mam passed on," Cutter told her, smiling broadly as he grabbed a scone and slathered a thick layer of jam onto it. Turning back to Mr Campbell he waved a hand at him encouraging him to speak, his actual words muffled by the huge bite of scone he'd just taken.

Lester rolled his eyes. "You know I'm not sure you're not still a 'growing boy'," he grumbled. "You certainly have the same kind of table manners as my boys do." He looked back over at Mr Campbell. "I believe Nick was trying to ask you to describe what happened. He's a zoologist so we're hoping to be able to at least identify the creature from your description and then try to track it down, unless the weather clears before we find it, in which case I will happily hand this job over to better trained people with bigger guns."

Mr Campbell chuckled at that. "Aye, you don't look like a man at home in the country. Fine, I'll tell you what I saw, but it wasn't much. About ten o'clock last night I heard a commotion from the sheep pen. I grabbed my gun and opened the door. Something jumped out of the pen and onto the fence, dragging one of my ewes with it. I couldn't make it out clearly through the snow but it was maybe three or four feet long, no taller than my dog though, and fast. I shot at it and it leapt off the fence and disappeared. One minute it was balanced on the fence like a cat and then it was gone. Never seen anything like it."

Cutter was licking the last traces of jam off of his fingers as he listened. He nodded slowly. "Could be some kind of big cat. We get it all the time unfortunately. Landowners buy exotic 'pets', don't license them or anything, so no one knows they're out there, and then when they get too aggressive or just too expensive to feed they let them go. There was a case in Northern Ireland I remember..."

Lester cleared his throat. "I'm pretty sure Mr Campbell isn't interested in the history of exotic animals in the British Isles." He looked up at the farmer again. "Do you still have the corpse of your sheep? There aren't going to be any tracks in this weather so your sheep is the only lead we really have. We can take some pictures and send them back to London, see if anyone there can work out what kind of cat it was."

"Aye, it's in the barn for now. I was going to cut it up and put it in the freezer later today. Reckon Mary and I are going to be eating lamb for dinner for the next few weeks." He nodded to the door. "You want to come and take a look at it?"

Cutter jumped up and pulled his coat on again. "I'll come. You two might as well stay here in the warm and enjoy your tea. I'll send the pictures straight to Connor and see what he says."

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

An hour later the three of them were hiking across the snow-covered countryside in the same general direction as the cat had disappeared the previous night. Other than a large bloodstain near the sheep pen, presumably where the corpse of the predator's victim had been dropped, there was nothing to show its presence or suggest which way it had gone. The snow had been falling steadily all night and after more than twelve hours any tracks it had left were long gone.

Lester was starting to lag behind now and even Cutter was looking tired, although he was still keeping up with Ryan. When they got to the top of the next rise, Ryan stopped. He looked out over the valley, but there was no sign of the cat. Looking at his companions he made a decision.

"All right, that's it. We're never going to be able to find it without any tracks. Let's head back to the bed and breakfast. The weather's just too filthy to keep going and if we carry on much longer we're going to have trouble making it back." He reached out to steady Lester who was having trouble keeping his footing in the snow. "You've both done really well today but you're exhausted, James."

Lester tried to shrug it off, but his legs were aching badly because of the effort of trudging through the snow. He knew Ryan was right and that it would be dangerous to stay out much longer if it meant that he wouldn't be able to make it back to the bed and breakfast. "We really need that back up, Tom. The only way the three of us are going to be able to find this thing is if we accidentally run into it."

"I know. I'll call Lyle when we get back and see what the weather forecast is. If they can get the helicopters in the air then they'll be here in under an hour, but until then we're on our own. You need to call Claudia and see if she can talk to the local police again. We need them to tell the locals to stay indoors and not investigate any strange noises. It ran off when Campbell confronted it, but that could have been because it had never encountered humans before. It might be braver next time and without knowing exactly what it is, we don't know how much damage it could do to a human." He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I hate feeling this helpless, but wandering aimlessly around the countryside isn't going to do anyone any good."

Cutter wrapped his arms around Ryan from behind and rested his face against the other man's coat. "We've done all we can, Tom. It's not our fault if anyone gets hurt. We're not even supposed to be on duty, it's just luck that put us in the same place as the anomaly."

Lester reached out ad squeezed his arm as well. "Nick's right. You've done what you can, Tom, but you're not Superman."

Ryan forced himself to smile. "I know, but it doesn't make me feel any better and you can't tell me the two of you won't feel guilty if it hurts someone."

Shrugging, Lester agreed, "You're right. We will feel bad, but standing out here in the snow isn't going to make us feel any better. Let's go home."

~*~*~*~*~

 

Connor slammed his hand against the laptop in frustration. It didn't matter how often he looked at the pictures Cutter had sent him, he couldn't get any more specific than 'some kind of sabre-toothed cat'. From the description of its behaviour he didn't think it was likely to be another Smilodon, although if it was a juvenile then it was possible, but that still left a lot of different species.

A hand on his shoulder made him jump and he looked up into Stephen's concerned face. "Stop beating yourself up about this, Connor. It's not your fault they're trapped up there with the creature and it's not your fault that we don't know enough about it to identify what exactly it is."

"What good is the creature database if it fails us when we need it the most?" Connor asked. "They could get killed because they don't know what they're trying to track. Cutter was relying on me to be able to figure it out."

"Cutter knows you're doing your best," Stephen told him firmly. "That's why he relies on you, but he knows the database isn't infallible. When they find the creature you can put its details into the computer and then next time we encounter one you'll be able to identify it immediately."

Abby carried a tray full of mugs over to them and rested it on the edge of the desk, handing Stephen and Connor tea in their favourite mugs. She was just as frustrated as the rest of them but she'd worked some of it off in the gym earlier and now she was concentrating on making sure the rest of her team remembered to eat and drink so that they'd be ready if anything changed and there was something they could do.

"Claudia's been speaking to the local police again. Lester wants them to order everyone to stay indoors, he's worried that next time it encounters a human it won't be so afraid and someone's going to get killed before they catch it." She leaned over and ruffled Connor's hair gently. "I'm sure you'd have identified it if they could have found some tracks. You can't help it if the weather obliterated them before the guys could get there. Maybe they'll have better luck tomorrow."

"Have you given Lyle one of those yet?" Stephen asked. "He's practically climbing the walls knowing they're up there and there's nothing he can do to get back up to them."

"He's next on my list," she told him with a bright smile. "Maybe you can drag him down to the shooting range later though. It must be hard for him knowing Ryan's in trouble and he's not there to back him up. Just like you and Cutter."

Stephen sighed. "I suppose. It's not like I'm doing any good standing around here. Why don't you try and grab a nap, Connor, you're not going to be able to do anything until tomorrow anyway. We'll wake you up when the pizza gets here."

Abby nodded and then picked the tray up again. "I'm going to go and deliver the rest of these before they get cold. Claudia's ordering the food now so you've got time for a quick nap and you've been working really hard today. I'm sure Cutter would be really proud of you if he was here."

Connor sighed and smiled faintly. "If you say so. Go on, take those away before the soldiers stage a revolt and come down here and take them. Make sure you wake me up when the pizza arrives, I could eat a horse."

~*~*~*~*~

 

It was a good job all three of them had enjoyed Mrs Campbell's scones, because it was late afternoon by the time they managed to make it back to the bed and breakfast. So late in fact that they only had time to shower and change before dinner was served.

The meal was huge, but very good, and all three of them cleared their plates happily, even Lester who didn't usually have an appetite to match Ryan's or Cutter's. When she came in to take the plates away, Mrs Maguire smiled broadly at them.

"That's what I like to see – nice clean plates and no leftovers. Now I have apple pie that's just come out of the oven or you can have a slice of Christmas cake instead if you don't have room for it and I'll bring you all a nice cup of tea to drink while you let it digest."

Cutter and Ryan both chose the apple pie with custard, but Lester didn't think he could manage it, even after all the exercise he'd done that day. "Just the tea would be lovely," he said politely.

"You need to put some meat on your bones," she scolded him lightly. "I'll get you some Christmas cake. I made it myself and it's lovely, full of fruit and just a touch of whisky to give it some flavour."

Lester smiled weakly as she bustled off. "It's like trying to argue with a hurricane," he grumbled. "And honestly why does she insist on trying to mother all of us, we're all adults."

Cutter grinned. "I like her."

"You would." Lester stretched and winced as the movement pulled his aching muscles tight. "God, I think I need a hot bath. My legs and back are killing me."

"What you really need is a massage," Ryan told him. "And it just happens that I'm pretty good at giving them. You can stretch out on the bed while I rub your back and legs and then I'm going to make you come so hard you'll just melt right into the bed." He winked and Lester blushed, but Mrs Maguire was already walking across the room towards them so he had to limit his response to a heated look sent across the table at his teasing lover.

The slice of Christmas cake that was placed in front of him could, in his opinion, have fed a family of four, but when he bit into it the flavour exploded on his tongue and he moaned in pleasure. "You're right," he told Mrs Maguire. "This really is very good."

By the time they had all finally finished their meal and then savoured their tea it was already early evening. Even though they'd got up late that morning, Cutter and Lester were yawning and even Ryan was moving more slowly than normal.

"Come on," he encouraged. "Let's go up to bed. I think we could all do with an early night."

~*~*~*~*~

 

By the time they got all the way up to the attic, Lester was really beginning to wish they had a room on the ground floor. All right, it wouldn't be as private as their attic room, but it would be a lot easier to get to.

As soon as they were in the room, Ryan pulled Lester into a long, slow kiss. "You did really well today, James. I was so proud of how well you kept up."

Lester smiled, glad he hadn't been holding his lovers back too much. He'd worried that he would slow them down, but it hadn't stopped him going along, because he didn't want them to be out there alone while he stayed safely back at the bed and breakfast. "I think you promised me a massage, Tom."

Ryan chuckled. "That I did. Get your kit off and stretch out on the bed."

"Such romance," Lester grumbled, but he was already stripping as he spoke.

Cutter leaned against the wall, watching Lester undress. He licked his lips and slowly let his eyes roam over his bare skin as it was revealed.

"Are you just planning to watch?" Lester asked.

Cutter shrugged. "I think so. After this morning it's probably my turn to anyway. I'm going to watch Tom give you that massage and then I'm going to stroke my cock while he sucks yours." He grinned at the soft moan that escaped Lester as he described what was going to happen.

Ryan stripped his own clothing off as well and then rummaged in his bag for the bottle of oil he'd brought with him. He hadn't expected them to be hiking through the snow but he had planned to give one or both of his lovers massages at some point.

When Lester was naked he stretched out on the bed, pillowing his head on his arms and then wriggling around to get comfortable. He hoped Ryan was as good at this as he'd said. His calf muscles and lower back were really starting to ache now.

Cutter settled comfortably in one of the armchairs, resting his feet on a low coffee table. The fact that Lester was so willing to stretch out on his stomach, completely naked, in front of both of them, filled him with warmth. He knew Lester didn't trust many people enough to be vulnerable in front of them and he was always touched when the other man showed that he and Ryan were amongst that small number.

Ryan straddled Lester's arse, letting his semi-hard cock rest against it as he poured some of the oil on his hands and then started work on his lover's neck and shoulders. The muscles there weren't as tense as he had expected, which pleased him because it meant that Lester was managing to put aside some of the stress at the situation they had found themselves in and relax. He was glad this anomaly wasn't going to completely ruin their holiday.

Slowly, he started to work his way along Lester's back, feeling the smooth skin and the bunched muscles beneath his hands. Most people would be surprised at how many muscles Lester's immaculately tailored suits concealed, but it no longer surprised him. As he reached Lester's lower back he slid backwards, resting his arse on Lester's thighs now instead and moaning as the movement dragged his cock across the other man's warm skin.

Lester wriggled slightly, loving the feeling of Ryan's weight pinning him down. He didn't move too much, though, because, despite the warm swell of arousal that was pooling in his lower stomach, he was also starting to relax. Each group of muscles that Ryan worked seemed to turn to jelly under his clever hands.

"You have a magical touch, Tom," he said hoarsely.

"So I've been told." Leaning down, Ryan ran his tongue over Lester's firm arse, before nipping gently at one of the cheeks.

Lester groaned. "Is that a normal part of one of your massages?"

"It's a special treat just for you," Ryan teased. He spread Lester's cheeks and ran his tongue along the crack, circling the small opening with the tip.

Lester tried to push backward, but Ryan's weight kept him from doing so. "I thought you were supposed to be giving me a massage, not driving me insane!"

"I can stop if you're not enjoying it," Ryan said, his amusement evident in his voice.

"Don't you dare!" Lester growled, wriggling ineffectually as Ryan held him in place with his strong thighs.

Cutter groaned and spread his legs, squeezing his rapidly-filling cock through his jeans. He'd known they'd look hot together.

Ryan went back to his self-appointed task of making Lester forget his own name. He ran his tongue the entire length of the shadowed cleft of Lester's arse over and over again, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Occasionally he would pause and thoroughly lave the tiny entrance, licking across it or circling it teasingly before moving on again.

Lester moaned and clutched at the pillow convulsively. "Christ, Tom, please!"

Ryan laughed and slapped Lester's arse gently. "All in good time, love."

He slid further down Lester's body again and resumed his massage, this time turning his talents to the tightly-corded muscles in Lester's thighs.

Lester groaned. "You are a sadist."

Ryan just shook his head. "I'm not going to leave you hanging. You just need to be patient."

Cutter shifted uncomfortably in his chair before standing up and pushing his jeans roughly down his legs. The tight denim was constricting his hard cock to a painful degree. He pulled his shirt off as well and then bent down to peel his socks off. When he was down to just his boxers he sat back down again and started stroking his cock through the thin cotton of his underwear.

Ryan took his time on Lester's thighs, both because he wanted to let the other man cool off a little and because his legs were really in need of some care after their snowy hike. When he was satisfied that he'd done all he could he moved off Lester and started work on his calf muscles. He ran oiled hands gently over the tense muscles and then dug his fingers into the knots, gently and persistently working each one until it vanished.

With a slow smile, he picked one of Lester's feet up off the bed and ran his thumbs along the arch, moving with him when Lester tried to jerk away.

"Just relax and trust me, I'm not going to tickle you."

Lester took a deep breath and tried to do what Ryan asked. His feet were very sensitive and he hated being tickled, but he did trust Ryan to keep his word.

Ryan made sure his touch was firm and sure so that he wouldn't accidentally tickle his lover. He massaged the foot until Lester had completely relaxed again and then he changed feet. By the time he finished the second foot, Lester's breath had evened out into a sleepy rhythm. He suspected that Lester was on the verge of sleep already but he'd promised him a blow job so he urged the pliant man to roll onto his back.

Lester blinked and then smiled up at Ryan, stretching sleepily. "You were right about being good at that." He spread his legs encouragingly. "But you definitely promised me more than just a massage."

Glancing across the room, Lester could see that Cutter was watching them hungrily, his hand now inside his boxers as he stroked his cock. He smiled at the other man and Cutter grinned back. Satisfied that Cutter was happy where he was, Lester turned his attention back to Ryan.

Ryan leaned down to kiss Lester, exploring his mouth leisurely. "Now just lie back and let me finish what I started."

Ryan started sliding down Lester's body but his lover stopped him.

"Turn around. I want to suck you too," he demanded.

Ryan groaned, his hard cock bobbing against his stomach as he moved to straddle Lester's face. "Never going to say no to that, James."

He leant down and took Lester's cock in his mouth, moaning as Lester mirrored his actions. He knew that he was far more turned on than his lover, the foot massage having relaxed Lester again after the earlier teasing, but he was determined to make Lester come first. He took his lover's cock all the way into his mouth, swallowing as the head bumped against the back of his throat. Lester's hips jerked upwards, as if he was trying to get even deeper, impossible as that was, but Ryan pushed them back down again, pinning him to the bed.

Lester groaned around his mouthful. He wasn't as skilled at this as Ryan was and he couldn't take all of the other man's cock, but he took as much as he could, licking and sucking on the tender flesh, while he used one of his hands to stroke the part he couldn't get in his mouth.

Cutter spread his legs further, his hand moving faster on his cock as he watched his lovers sucking one another. He'd never seen himself as a voyeur before, but it never failed to arouse him when the two men had sex in front of him.

Ryan fought to keep his hips still, not wanting to thrust too hard and choke Lester. At the same time he was beginning a slow slide all the way back up until only the head of Lester's cock was in his mouth, followed by an equally slow return journey. Slow, teasing movements always got Lester off faster than fast, desperate ones.

Lester brought his other hand up and began playing with Ryan's balls. It was the last straw and with a low shout, Ryan yanked his mouth away from Lester's cock and came. Lester smiled smugly and swallowed everything Ryan had to offer before licking and teasing the overly-sensitive flesh with his tongue.

Ryan whimpered and reluctantly pulled away from Lester's ministrations. He turned around and looked at the expression on the other man's face, chuckling. "You love it when you make me lose control first, don't you?"

Lester just smiled and pulled him up for a kiss, letting the Ryan taste himself in Lester's mouth. "I love you," he said softly.

Cutter moaned and bit his lip, wanting to hold on until Lester came but on the verge of coming at the whispered declaration. None of them said the words very often and it never failed to turn him on hearing them come from the mouth of one of his lovers.

Ryan looked over at him and winked and then abruptly slid back down the bed, swallowing Lester whole. He hummed around his mouthful and Lester tried to arch off the bed again, only Ryan's strong hands stopping him.

Ryan looked along his body at him and then swallowed around Lester's cock again.

With a long drawn-out moan, Lester came, his back arching a fraction and then slumping back against the bed again, exhausted and more relaxed than he could remember ever being.

Cutter let out a guttural shout and came, his come spurting over his hand and soaking his boxers. He sat there, breathing heavily, for a few seconds and then pulled his boxers off, using them to clean himself up, and then tossing them into the laundry bag.

He made his way across the room on shaky legs, turning the lights off as he went, and then crawling into bed next to his lovers. He snuggled closer to Ryan, pushing him into Lester as he moved. He dragged the duvet over them, making sure it was snugly wrapped around all three of them. "I want a massage like that if we have to spend tomorrow chasing the creature as well," he said sleepily, drawing soft snorts of amusement from both men.

"Sleep well," Ryan said softly, wrapping his arm more securely around Lester and pulling Cutter's over his hip before drifting off into a very comfortable sleep.

~*~*~*~*~

It rested comfortably on the branch of a tree, watching the surroundings carefully. There was no moon and it was still snowing, but its eyes were suited for seeing in the dark and nothing would get past it unnoticed. It had carefully scouted this area the previous night and the settled into its perch in the tree to wait.

The trail was well-travelled and it knew that there would be prey along soon if it was just patient for long enough. In the past it had waited in trees for more than a day before catching a meal so it was no stranger to this kind of waiting and watching.

Soon it could hear the prey approaching. It waited until the two creatures were under its tree and then leapt onto the larger one, knocking it to the ground and biting down on the back of the neck. Then it turned to the smaller creature.

The smaller animal was making a lot of noise and charged towards it, hurling itself at the predator and trying to sink its sharp teeth into it. It yowled and spun around, dislodging the smaller animal and then grabbed it in its jaws, throwing it against the tree.

Turning back to the larger prey, it took hold of one of its limbs and started to drag it through the snow, back to the shelter it had found so that it could enjoy it's meal in the dry. As it went it left a trail of dark, red blood on the white snow, but it didn't care. It didn't think there were any other predators in this area. It certainly hadn't smelt any as it had moved around. It didn't need to be stealthy as there was nothing waiting to steal its meal. It was safe here.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The next morning, the three men came down for breakfast just as the sun was coming up. They knew they were probably going to have to spend the day trying to track down the creature again and they wanted to make the most of the few hours of daylight they would have.

Lester was feeling much better after the massage and a good night's sleep, but he was dreading the thought of going out into the snow again. They planned to walk to the anomaly site and see if it was still there and if there was any sign that the creature had gone back to its own time. If there wasn't then they would start looking for it again.

They were halfway through their breakfast when there was a loud pounding on the door. Mrs Maguire rushed to open it and all three of them stopped eating and turned to see what was happening. The snow was still falling and the conditions were too treacherous for anyone to be outside without good reason. Knowing there was a sabre-toothed cat out on the hills somewhere, they all assumed that the sudden interruption meant trouble. And they were right.

A young man, about Ryan's age, wrapped in a bulky coat and with a knitted hat pulled down over his ears pushed past Mrs Maguire and headed straight for them.

Lester stood up and waited for the stranger to introduce himself.

The man pulled his hat and gloves off and held out his hand. "Are you Sir James Lester?"

Lester shook it automatically. "I am, and you are?"

"Sorry. I'm Constable Harper. I've been talking to your Miss Brown about the situation." He looked around and lowered his voice. "There's been another attack. I need to know exactly what's going on around here or I'm going to open a murder inquiry and make the three of you my chief suspects."

Lester was about to try and deflect the young constable when something he'd said suddenly registered. "Murder? It was a person who was attacked this time?"

"Aye, well I assume so. We haven't got a body. Just a dead dog and a hell of a blood-pool." Harper ran his hand through his hair. "The victim's name is Jack Harper, he runs a farm just east of here and he always walks out before he goes to bed to check on his sheep with his dog, Jess. He didn't come home last night and his wife called me this morning. We found the dog on the path he normally uses, but he's just vanished."

"Harper?" Cutter asked. "Didn't you say your name was..."

"He's my uncle and before anyone suggests that someone else should investigate, I'm the only one here. I want to know what happened to him and what you're going to do about it!"

The three men exchanged worried glances and then Lester nodded almost imperceptibly. "See if Mrs Maguire will find you a cup of tea or something, this is going to be a very long explanation and if you don't mind we're going to finish eating because we're probably going to be out all day in the snow again."

On cue the landlady bustled into the room and put a steaming mug of tea in front of the policeman. "There you go lad. Would you like a bacon sandwich or something to go with it? And then I'll leave the four of you alone, you look like you have something to discuss."

Lester waited until all four of them had finished eating before starting his explanation. "Before I start I know this is going to sound completely insane, Constable. But I can assure you we're not making it up and my colleague back in London will back up everything we say if you feel the need to call her and verify our story. However, everything I am about to tell you is also covered by the Official Secrets Act and I will need your word that you won't talk about it to anyone else, not even your colleagues."

Constable Harper looked around at the three men, all of whom were looking deadly serious. He nodded slowly. "Aye, all right. I promise."

"A certain phenomenon has been occurring for at least the last eight years, although we've only known about it for two. Rips in time, anomalies as we call them, have been opening and closing at random. There is, as yet, no way of effectively predicting them, only of detecting them once they open. Sometimes they open and close without anything happening and with no one finding them. Other times people from our time go through them – deliberately or accidentally – or creatures from the past come through into our time." Lester took a sip of his tea, watching the increasingly incredulous expression on the policeman's face.

"You have to be kidding me. You're saying there's dinosaurs appearing all over the place an' no one knows about it?"

"Well, not all over the place," Ryan said. "The majority of anomalies seem to have been in the south, although we have detected them in other parts of the British Isles and there have even been some that we know of in other countries. Generally, if they open somewhere remote, no one even sees them and if they do, well, if you saw a huge sparkly opening hovering in the sky, would you tell people?"

The policeman nodded again "Okay, that makes sense. And I suppose things don't always come through and if they do they don't survive in a strange time?"

"Exactly," Cutter said, starting to warm to the topic. "The prehistoric past is often so different from our own time, not only climatically but also in terms of the mix of gases in the air or the pH readings in the water that it wouldn't be at all uncommon for creatures to instantly die. And of course a huge sparkly opening in the air isn't exactly inviting for most creatures. If we can get the creatures back to an anomaly they generally seem quite happy to go home. The problem happens of course if someone else runs across them first or if the anomaly closes, trapping them here."

"And that's what's happened up here? Something came through and isn't going home? You're saying my uncle was eaten by some kind of T-Rex?"

Lester cleared his throat. "Actually, we think it's a type of sabre-toothed cat. We haven't seen it and the snow wiped out its tracks almost immediately so we're not entirely sure what species, but Mr Campbell's description of the creature that attacked his sheep certainly suggests we're on the right lines. Professor Cutter here is an evolutionary zoologist and will try and identify the animal. If we can persuade it to go home, that would be best. We've learnt that it's not advisable to mess with history, even if it is very distant history. If we can't make it go home or if we have to defend ourselves from it, then Captain Ryan here will shoot it. Normally we have the option of using tranquillisers, but we were only here on holiday and we don't have any equipment with us. We're waiting for some military back up from Edinburgh but apparently our magnificent forces can't deal with a little snow."

Cutter cleared the plates away, leaving them with only their mugs of tea, and then spread the map out on the table. He pointed to a spot that was already marked on it. "This is where the anomaly is." He pointed to another spot. "And this is where the attack on Campbell's sheep happened. Can you show us where your uncle was attacked? It might help us work out if the creature is travelling or if it's decided to settle in one area and claim a territory."

Constable Harper nodded. He stood up and leant over the map, working out where they were and then he pointed. "That's the trail my uncle uses. The attack happened somewhere around here. Do you want me to take you out there?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Lester said, smiling at the young man. Even despite his personal loss, the policeman seemed to be very level-headed and to be treating this in a professional manner. Lester thought he could work well with him.

The men all pulled on their coats and boots and Ryan popped into the kitchen to tell Mrs Maguire they were heading out and they hoped to be back before dark and then they started the long walk across the hills to get to the scene of the attack.

~*~*~*~*~

 

Cutter crouched down by the body of the dog and gingerly examined the wound. He pulled out his mobile phone and snapped several pictures, quickly attaching them to an email and sending them to Connor.

All four men were carefully avoiding the red-tinted snow where the victim's blood had soaked into it. The trail leading away from the scene was obvious, even with the subsequent snowfall. There was enough snow to obscure the cat's footprints, but not the trail made by the body as it had been dragged away.

"I've sent the photos to a colleague of mine, but I'm sure it's the same creature that killed Campbell's ewe," Cutter said. "I think it's settled in to the area, because it would have doubled back from the Campbell place to get here. It's probably trying to establish a territory." He looked up at Ryan. "I don't suppose you have any idea how far a four-foot long cat could drag a body before it had to stop?"

"That's more your field than mine, Nick," Ryan pointed out.

"Not really. I never was an expert on predators, that's Stephen. I'm going to call him and brainstorm. Can you look around and see if you can find any spoor? I think the creature probably waited here a while and then ambushed the farmer and his dog. A lot of the big cats are arboreal and prefer to ambush their prey instead of running it down and it would make sense since the scene's right under the only tree in the area."

"Spoor?" Constable Harper asked.

"Shit," Ryan explained ruefully. "I didn't join the army so I could spend my time collecting shit, but you'd be surprised how much time I seem to spend doing it since I joined this project."

Cutter walked a few paces away and dialled Stephen's number. He was soon in the middle of an animated conversation as the other three men looked on. He paced up and down and waved his hands as he spoke, his accent getting stronger as he got more involved in the discussion.

Ryan watched with a kind of indulgent amusement as Cutter finally hung up and then turned around, seeming surprised by his audience as if he'd forgotten they were there. "So what did the great white hunter say?"

"He said it would depend how muscular the cat was and how much the body weighed, but that cats often have a lot of stamina. He thinks we're probably looking for a cave of some kind. Is there anything like that around here, Constable? I never was one for hiking around the hills even when I lived here." Cutter ran a gloved hand through his hair, leaving it all spiky and disarrayed, the effect adding to the air of absent-minded professor that had come over him during his phone call.

"Aye, there's a small group of caves a couple of miles away. Not sure most people would really call them caves, they're not deep, but they'd provide some shelter from the weather." Constable Harper swallowed heavily and pointedly avoided looking at the bloodstain. "You reckon that's where it took the body then?"

Cutter nodded. "I'm sorry. It looks like your uncle was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The cat knew this path was well-used and it just waited in the tree until something big enough came alone and then pounced. I doubt he even knew what hit him. Cats usually subdue their prey very quickly, especially if it's bigger than they are."

Ryan looked at the sky and then at the trail in the snow. "I think the weather might be easing off. If we can follow the trail and get a definitive location for the cat we might be able to wait for our back up to get here before going after it."

Lester looked at the bloodstain and then nodded. "All right, let's get moving. If it's already gone before we get there we might have to wait for it to return before we can find it. I don't like the idea of it being out here somewhere, still hunting. So we'll find it and try to keep it pinned down but if it comes out, you're going to have to shoot it, Captain. We can't risk it killing anyone else."

With a plan in place, the four men started walking. The deep snow was harder to walk through than the trail would have been, but none of them could quite stomach the thought of walking the same path that the cat had dragged the farmer's dead body along. So without discussing it, they all broke their own trail through the snow next to the path.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The mood in the ARC was even lower today. Partly because almost everyone had been there for two nights in a row now and the lack of a decent night's sleep, combined with the fact that they'd all been surrounded by the same faces for more than forty-eight hours now, was beginning to tell and partly because of their concern for Cutter, Lester, and Ryan.

When Cutter called Connor and sent him the pictures he'd taken of the dead dog and followed it up by telling him that a local farmer was now missing and presumed dead, the mood got even worse.

Connor busied himself with his database again, desperately trying to use the new pictures and the suggestions that Cutter had made about the creature's hunting behaviours to whittle down the selection of candidates and hopefully identify the creature they were hunting.

Abby was missing, but rumour had it that she was down in the gym beating up a perfectly innocent punching bag. Not even the soldiers were willing to go down and check to see if that was true.

Claudia was holed up in her office, but with the local policeman now part of the hunting party there was no one left for her to talk to and nothing to organise. When her door burst open and Lyle strode through it, she was playing minesweeper and trying to look busy.

"It's stopped snowing!" he shouted, a broad grin spreading across his face.

Automatically, she glanced towards the window before realising what he meant. "Really? Are the soldiers on their way?"

Lyle nodded. "They left base ten minutes ago. I gave the pilots Ryan's number so they could coordinate with him. The last thing we want is them landing in the wrong place and spooking the cat. They'll be with the guys within an hour."

He pulled Claudia out of her chair and hugged her. "Do you want to call Lester and tell him?"

She kissed him on the cheek and then grabbed the phone. "Go and tell Stephen and see what Connor's come up with. Once the soldiers get there Lester can hand over to them and the boys can go back to their holiday." She sank into her chair in relief even as she dialled Lester's number. It was almost over.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The four men were crouching in the snow, peering over the top of a hill at the cave that their quarry had presumably disappeared into. The blood trail led right to the mouth of the cave, but there was no sign of movement from inside and they couldn't be sure the cat was actually inside.

Lester folded his arms so that his hands were being kept warm under his arms. Even with his gloves on his fingers were starting to go numb. The sun had come out when the snow had stopped, but it wasn't providing them with any warmth, just a light bright enough to reflect off the snow and make it hard for them to see.

When his phone rang, all four of them jumped, and Ryan glared at him as he fumbled with the buttons finally tugging one of his gloves off so that he could answer it. "What?" he snapped into the phone, well aware that he should have put it on silent and that the shrill ringtone had probably alerted the cat to their presence.

He sighed. "All right. Have them call Ryan when they're within range and he'll guide them into the best spot to land. We'll contact you if anything changes." He hung up without even saying goodbye and looked over at Ryan.

"I know, I know. If it's in there it knows we're here now." He poked at the buttons bad-naturedly as he belatedly turned the ringtone off and then pushed it back into his pocket, awkwardly pulling his glove back on before his fingers froze. "Claudia says that the soldiers left their base in Edinburgh a quarter of an hour ago so we have forty-five minutes to wait. Are we just going to sit here and freeze or are we going to see if the damn creature is even in the cave?"

Ryan smiled at him, wanting to tease him about not being able to sit still, but knowing Lester wouldn't appreciate it as long as Constable Harper was within hearing range. "We'll give it another fifteen minutes and then I'll go and have a quick look. I don't want to look like an idiot when our back-up gets here and have them rush an empty cave."

If it had just been the three of them, Cutter would have suggested a game of I Spy or something to pass the time, but it seemed disrespectful with Constable Harper there and his uncle's corpse probably less than a hundred metres away. So, instead they waited in almost total silence, Lester, Cutter, and Harper all checking their watches every few minutes. Only Ryan managed a kind of watchful stillness as they waited to see if there would be any sign of the cat.

"Right. The lads should be here in half an hour," Ryan said. "I'm going to take a quick squint at what's in the cave. I'll be right back."

He crept over the brow of the hill and scrambled down the snowy slope towards the caves. There were three entrances set into the side of an almost vertical bluff. The trail from where the cat had dragged the body leads clearly into the middle cave so Ryan focussed on that one and spared only a cursory glance for the first one as he passed it.

As he approached the second one he heard Lester shout his name and he turned to see Lester and Cutter running towards him with Constable Harper a few steps behind them. Before he could work out what was happening he heard a loud snarl from somewhere above his right shoulder and he was pushed to the ground without having a chance to raise the shotgun or draw his knife from his thigh holster.

He tried to roll to one side but he was pinned to the ground with his face buried in the snow so that he had to struggle to breathe. There was a heavy weight on his back, which he assumed was the cat they were supposed to be hunting, and a burning sensation in his shoulder which suggested the cat's claws had pierced his thick, winter clothing. As it shifted its weight a sharp pain shot through his arm and he groaned. He wished he could see what was going on, but all he could see was the white snow that was threatening to suffocate him.

Lester and Cutter had watched silently, almost holding their breath, as Ryan crept closer towards the cave. Then movement had caught Lester's eyes and he realised to his horror that the cat was on top of the bluff, creeping into a position from where it could pounce on Ryan. Without thinking, he stood up and shouted, but he could tell almost as he did it that it wasn't going to be enough.

By now Cutter and Constable Harper had seen the cat too and the three of them jumped from their positions behind the hill and ran towards Ryan, hoping to scare the cat off or at least distract it.

The cat leapt from its position above Ryan and hit him squarely in the back, knocking him to the ground. Cutter didn't know what he was going to do when he reached the cat since other than Constable Harper's baton, the only weapons they had were in Ryan's hands, but he knew they had to do something before the cat had a chance to sink its teeth into Ryan's neck and kill him.

The cat turned to snarl at them as they ran towards it, but none of them slowed down. Lester saw something dark sticking out of the snow and turned towards it, realising as he did so that it was a rock. He grabbed it and hurled it at the cat, hitting it in the side of the head.

The cat yowled in pain and pushed itself off of Ryan's back, leaping towards its attackers. Constable Harper pulled out his baton and swung it, hitting the cat in the side and knocking it off balance, but not doing any damage to the creature as far as anyone could tell. The impact knocked the baton from his hand and sent a pain shooting along his arm, but he didn't let it stop him. He looked around desperately for something else that he could hit the cat with.

Cutter used the cat's distraction to slip past it and reach Ryan. He dropped to one knee and reached out towards the other man with shaking hands.

"Get the gun," Ryan rasped, his throat still hoarse from the gulps of air he'd taken when the weight had been lifted from his back and he could finally get his face out of the snow.

Cutter wanted to stay where he was and find out how badly hurt Ryan was, but he knew that until the cat was out of the picture there wasn't enough time for that. He scooped the shotgun up out of the snow and spun around, trying to get a good shot at the cat that wouldn't spray Lester and Constable Harper with lead as well.

Taking advantage of the fact that its attackers were now weaponless, the cat charged towards them. Constable Harper knocked Lester to one side and rolled them both out of the way of its headlong charge. That inadvertently gave Cutter the chance he'd been looking for. Bringing the gun up, he fired at the cat and then fired again as it howled in pain and tried to run away. It went against his normal instincts, but he couldn't chance the wounded animal coming back again and catching them unawares or worse, disappearing into the countryside again and killing some innocent person who didn't even know it was out there.

Dropping the gun again he turned back to Ryan and ran his hands gently over the rips in the back of his coat. "Can you sit up, Tom?"

Ryan rolled onto his side and then struggled upright with Cutter's help. His shoulder hurt when he moved it and he couldn't use his arm to push himself up so he settled for leaning against Cutter. "I think I'm okay. My shoulder hurts and my head is pounding, but I've been worse after training with the lads."

Lester struggled to his feet and held his hand out to help Constable Harper up. "Thank you. You have good reflexes."

Constable Harper nodded, his eyes glued to the cat. "I knew what we were hunting, but I don't think I really believed it..."

Lester rested a hand on the Constable's shoulder. "It's a lot to take in, I know. The army should be here soon. I suggest you let them take you home and they'll..." He paused and glanced at the cave quickly. "They'll arrange for the retrieval of your uncle's body. You should get that wrist checked out too." He felt a little protective of the much younger man. The constable was probably only a couple of years older than his oldest son, a thought which made him feel old, and he didn't want him to have to see whatever the cat had left of his uncle. With a final squeeze, he left Constable Harper looking at the cat and went to check on Ryan. He crouched down next to him, noticing with concern that Ryan was paler than normal.

"Are you hurt?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not really. I think my shoulder's bleeding but other than that I'm just bruised. I'll let their medic check me out and take whatever antibiotics he gives me, but I'll be fine."

Cutter brushed a gentle hand through Ryan's hair. "We'll just have to take extra good care of you for the next few days."

~*~*~*~*~

 

The helicopters eventually turned up, after all the excitement was well and truly over, as Lester pointed out to their commanding officer at great length and with excruciating detail. He then proceeded to organise the soldiers, arranging for Constable Harper to be checked out by the medic and then flown back to his aunt's home. The other helicopter took the three of them back to their bed and breakfast, after Ryan had also been subjected to the none too delicate ministrations of the unit medic.

Lester spread their map out over one of the tables in the dining room and explained exactly where he wanted the cordon around the anomaly to be set up and what they were to watch out for. The cat's body was to be loaded onto one of the helicopters for the return trip to Edinburgh and a detachment of men was going to be needed the next day to retrieve the victim's body from the cave. Lester had tried to insist it should be done immediately but the commanding officer managed his only victory of the day and put his foot down. The body wasn't going anywhere and it was already getting dark; if the helicopters hung around much longer they would risk being grounded for the night.

After the officer had finally left, Lester stood up and stretched. He looked over at Ryan who was sitting in front of the fire with a glass of whisky, watching him. When Ryan saw him looking, he smiled sexily.

"Are you finally done?" he asked, draining his glass and then pushing himself to his feet. "Cutter is upstairs getting the room ready. He took up food for us earlier. I said I'd wait until you remembered that you're meant to be on holiday and then let you help me up the stairs."

Lester frowned worriedly. "Are you all right? I didn't get a chance to ask you after the medic had checked you out." He looked away, feeling a wave of guilt come over him. He could have given the soldiers their orders and then let their commanding officer deal with the details. He hadn't needed to do it all himself; he just didn't feel comfortable delegating things like this to total strangers.

Ryan crossed the room and wrapped his arms loosely around Lester's waist. "I have some deep puncture wounds in my shoulder and I need to take it easy until they've healed, but I'll live. You were busy, James. I wasn't blaming you for doing your job."

"Still, I should have asked you how you were..." Lester pulled him even closer and kissed him softly. "I'm ready now though. We can go upstairs and Nick and I can make sure you don't overdo things."

Mrs. Maguire cleared her throat. She was watching them from the doorway with an indulgent smile on her face. "I made sure there was enough food to keep all three of you going. All things that you can eat with your fingers, so you wrap your young friend up and sit him in front of the fire and make sure he doesn't do anything. There's tea and coffee and I've got a bottle of whisky here with your names on it. I don't know what you were doing out there, but you all look like you could do with a nice relaxing evening." She handed Lester the bottle and then shooed the pair of them towards the stairs. "And don't worry about getting up too early. I can do you all breakfast whenever you want."

Lester was beginning to get used to the bewildered feeling he got whenever Mrs Maguire was around so he just smiled gratefully at her and took the bottle. "We'll take good care of him, and one of your wonderful breakfasts tomorrow will be just what he needs to recover from today. Thank you for everything and for not asking too many questions. I really do appreciate it."

She waved a hand at him dismissively. "Get on with you. You all look like you could do with a bit of looking after. Now get upstairs. The lad here needs some good food and then a good night's sleep."

Lester chuckled as he wrapped his arm more tightly around Ryan's waist and started up the stairs. "Lean on me, Tom. That was some knock you took when it landed on you. I don't want you to fall down the stairs if your head starts spinning."

"You know I could probably manage on my own, I'm not that much of an invalid." Ryan leaned into the embrace though. It wouldn't kill him to let Lester and Cutter pamper him for a few days and he thought they probably needed it as much as he did after seeing him get attacked.

Lester set a steady pace as they climbed all the way to their attic rooms. Despite Ryan's assertion that he was fine, he watched him carefully, a little worried that he might have a concussion or something.

When he opened the door, Lester paused in surprise. The lights were off and the warm glow of the fire blended with the light coming from a dozen candles that Cutter had scattered around the room. Cutter himself was stretched out in front of the fireplace wearing only his boxers. In front of him were dozens of plates and boxes of finger food and there was a gently steaming teapot on the side table.

Cutter smiled up at his lovers. "Why don't you both make yourselves comfortable and then come and stretch out down here with me. Mrs Maguire's done us proud with the food."

Ryan grinned. "Cool, a picnic." He pulled away from Lester and started undressing. "You went to a lot of effort, Nick. Thank you."

Cutter ducked his head, pleased with Ryan's reaction. He might not be as adventurous as Lester and Ryan but he did know how to be romantic.

Lester dropped his clothes carelessly on the Ottoman at the end of the bed and then stretched out opposite Cutter, holding his hand out to encourage Ryan to join them. Ryan had a dressing on his shoulder and a few bruises along his back that were already starting to develop, but other than that, there was nothing to show how close to death he'd come.

As soon as Ryan was sitting on the rug, Cutter leant over and kissed him slowly, exploring his mouth with the single-mindedness that Ryan had come to expect from him. He reluctantly pulled back when he had to breathe and found himself looking right into Cutter's blue eyes.

"You scared us this morning, Tom," Cutter told him hoarsely.

Lester moved closer and pulled Ryan down to lean against his chest. "Nick's right, watching that cat pounce on you was terrifying. I'm very glad you're okay." He pressed a kiss to Ryan's uninjured shoulder and then reached out to pull one of the plates of food closer. Picking up a carrot stick, he swirled it through the dressing and then brought it to Ryan's lips, shivering slightly when the other man slowly sucked it into his mouth.

Cutter chuckled. "If you insist on eating everything like that, this meal is going to be over very quickly."

Ryan bit down on the carrot stick and chewed it, swallowing before he replied. "You'll just need to cultivate some patience, Nick. I intend to enjoy this picnic. It's been a long time since I shared something this romantic with someone. You can take me to bed and show me how glad you are I'm alive after I've finished eating."

Lester nipped at the side of his neck. "Eat quickly, Tom. You're going to need your energy for when we check every inch of you for injuries you haven't mentioned. We're going to have to be very, very, very thorough."

Squirming against Lester, Ryan grabbed a cocktail sausage and reached back to stuff it in his lover's mouth. "You're going to need your strength too, James. Close calls make me horny."

Cutter laughed delightedly and snagged the bottle of whisky, pouring them all a glass. He raised his in a toast. "To a happy Christmas and a much more peaceful end to our holiday!"

Ryan and Lester clinked their glasses against his and echoed the toast.

Leaning back into Lester's embrace, Ryan started tucking into the food in earnest and the other two men followed suit. By a mutual consent, the conversation stayed away from the subjects of work and sex and instead remained light-hearted as they ate.

The heat from the fire meant they were all comfortable, despite their lack of clothing. The rug was soft and a nice place to sit or lie as they ate, and the food was, as always, delicious, so by the time their hunger had been sated all three of them were relaxed and had put the events of the last two days from their minds.

Eventually, Ryan stretched and sat up again. "I'm finished, what about the two of you?"

Lester nodded. "I'm done. We can pack the leftovers up and eat them later. I don't intend to leave the room until at least lunchtime tomorrow, not even for one of Mrs Maguire's breakfasts."

Cutter murmured his agreement. "I'm sure she'll make us one at lunchtime if we really want a fry-up. I wouldn't mind going for a walk tomorrow afternoon though. Not far, just to get some fresh air and look around without having to worry about anomalies or sabre-toothed cats."

Lester wrinkled his nose but eventually acquiesced. "Maybe a short one. I don't really like trudging through deep snow or freezing my arse off but it is very pretty around here and I suppose a little fresh air can't hurt."

"We'll make it up to you afterwards," Ryan promised. "I'm sure we can come up with all kinds of creative ways to warm you up when we get home."

"You don't need to get creative," Lester teased. "I believe sharing body heat is the traditional method. There's no reason to reinvent the wheel." He grinned and then pulled Ryan closer for a kiss, scratching his nails down the other man's back as he slowly explored his mouth. When he pulled back, he dropped a tender kiss on the end of Ryan's nose. "Now why don't you go and lie down while Nick and I put these candles out and then we can make sure you're really in one big piece and there aren't any chunks missing."

Working together, Cutter and Lester tidied the leftovers away and blew out the candles, leaving the room lit only by the soft glow of the fire. The flickering shadows, combined with the blanket of snow covering the skylight and piled up on the windowsills, made the room feel like a cocoon. In another place it might have been spooky, but here, with his lovers around him, Ryan found it comforting.

He had wriggled out of his boxers before lying down and now, as he watched his lovers moving around the room, he reached down and started slowly stroking his cock. "You two look gorgeous like this. I need to get you almost naked and have you wait on me more often." He licked his lips as he watched them and saw Lester shiver slightly at the motion, so he did it again, more slowly this time.

Lester growled softly and stalked across the room towards him. Leaning down he kissed him hungrily, taking his mouth in a hard, possessive kiss. "You're the gorgeous one, Tom. All lean lines and hard muscles. But you're injured so I'm not going to give you the long, hard fuck you're clearly asking for."

Ryan pouted and then laughed when Lester just kept looking at him impassively. "Nick always gives in when I pout."

The bed dipped and Cutter sat down on his other side. "That's because you look cute when you pout," he said, leaning forward and taking Ryan's lower lip between his teeth and sucking on it before reluctantly letting it go again. "James is right though. You're hurt, so tonight is going to be slow and gentle. We're going to take good care of you. Just lie back and let us give you pleasure, love."

Cutter stood up again and pushed his underwear down his legs and then stepped out of it before getting back onto the bed and straddling Ryan. He kissed him slowly, vaguely registering that Lester had got off the bed and was probably taking his own boxers off as well.

Running his hands over Ryan's chest, he deepened the kiss, not wanting to turn things more urgent yet, but still feeling the need to claim Ryan's mouth. He savoured the feeling of his body pressing up against Ryan's and the other man's hands as they clutched at his shoulders.

Lester watched them kiss for a few seconds before joining them on the bed again. He rested one hand on Cutter's shoulder and licked a trail along the side of Ryan's neck until he could trace his ear with the tip of his tongue.

Ryan groaned into the kiss and tilted his head to give Lester better access. He was holding on to Cutter tightly as the other man kissed him senseless while at the same time rubbing up against him in an increasingly frustrating manner. It felt good but it wasn't enough and he found himself trying to arch up against Cutter and get more contact.

Cutter loved the little twitching movements Ryan's hips were making as he desperately tried to get Cutter to do something more than just kiss him. When Lester joined in as well, Cutter knew that it wouldn't be long before Ryan tried to take control, but he didn't want the other man moving around too much. Unlike Lester, he'd seen the deep puncture wounds from the cat's claws in Ryan's shoulder and he didn't want the other man to do anything that would open them up again.

He pushed Ryan flat, keeping his hand firmly in place on Ryan's chest when the other man tried to get up again. "No. You need to rest your shoulder. Just lie still and let us do all the work."

Ryan sighed but relaxed back against the pillows. "Fine, but just this once."

"Yes, Tom. We wouldn't expect you to be reasonable on a regular basis," Lester said, dryly. He brushed a gentle kiss against Ryan's lips, refusing to deepen it despite Ryan's attempts to coax his tongue into his mouth. When he pulled back he was smiling. "I promise, once your shoulder is healed you can be as bossy as you want in bed."

Cutter slowly slid his hand lower, feeling the way Ryan's stomach muscles twitched slightly under his touch. He wrapped his fingers around Ryan's cock and started stroking it slowly. "What do you want tonight, Tom? Do you want one of us to fuck you?"

Ryan groaned. "I want you both to suck me and then I want to watch as James fucks you through the mattress."

Lester pinched one of Ryan's nipples roughly, knowing exactly what to do to make him try and arch off the bed. He grinned and did it again to the other one. "You want us both to suck you at the same time?" His eyes twinkled as he teased Ryan. "Both of us using our tongues and lips and teeth to drive you insane, before finally, when you think you can't take any more, letting you come?"

Ryan grabbed Lester's head and yanked him down for a hungry kiss. "Fuck yes. I want to watch as the two of you make me come and then I want to see you take Cutter the way you normally take me."

Lester looked over at Cutter and tilted his head questioningly. "Would you like that?" Usually he was slower and gentler with Cutter than with Ryan, not because he didn't think the other man could take it but because he knew Ryan got off on being taken roughly, but Cutter had never given any indication that he did. He wondered what Ryan had seen something that he hadn't that had made him make the suggestion.

Cutter hesitated and then smiled. "I don't know. Ryan certainly seems to enjoy it when things get a little out of control." He leant over and kissed Lester slowly, buying himself some time to think. "I don't know that I'd want to do it very often, I like taking my time with both of you, but it might be nice to try something different for a change." He grinned. "I certainly had fun last time the two of you decided to broaden my horizons."

Laughing, Lester pulled him close again and kissed him a little harder, letting the passion build before sliding one of his hands down and squeezing Cutter's arse. "That's what I like about you, Nick. You never back down from a challenge."

He let Cutter go and stretched out next to Ryan again. "But we did promise to take care of Tom first. He deserves some pampering after today."

Ryan wriggled in place and smiled up at them. "Well? Get on with it then!"

Cutter laughed loudly. "James is right. You're a brat sometimes." He kissed the other man gently and then started moving slowly lower, trailing kisses along his neck, pausing to suck on the pulse point until Ryan was squirming under him, and then continuing on his downward journey.

Seeing what Cutter was doing, Lester slid to the foot of the bed and took one of Ryan's feet in his hands. If they timed this right they would meet in the middle. He grinned to himself before running his tongue along the arch of Ryan's foot, planning to copy some of the things the other man had done to him the previous night to drive him insane.

Teasingly he worked his way along one of Ryan's legs, alternating licks and kisses with soft bites. At the same time he used his other hand to caress and stroke Ryan's other leg. He sucked the flesh behind Ryan's knee at the same time as Cutter took one of his nipples in his mouth and bit down. Between them they made Ryan writhe and squirm, crying out as the two men teased him.

Moving further down, Cutter stuck his tongue into Ryan's navel and made him giggle and then Lester sucked a love bite onto the inside of his thigh, turning the laughter into breathless moaning.

Lester looked up and met Cutter's eyes and they both nodded. Simultaneously they moved, Cutter wrapping his lips around the tip of Ryan's cock and Lester taking one of his balls in his mouth, rubbing his tongue against the wrinkled flesh.

Ryan cried out and dropped his hands to the sheets, gripping them tightly in an effort not to grab at his lovers' heads. The feeling of two hot mouths working on him at the same time was incredible. He knew that no matter how much he wanted to make this last, there was no way he was going to be able to hold out long under the double onslaught.

Lester pulled back and urged Cutter to let Ryan's cock slip from his mouth. With quick gestures, Lester communicated his plan to Cutter and they both moved, mouths meeting in a tongue-tangling kiss around Ryan's cock. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but they kept the kiss going as long as they could, Ryan's increasingly desperate movements making it clear how much he was enjoying the feeling.

Finally, they had to pull apart to breathe and they both looked along Ryan's body. He groaned and closed his eyes, not able to watch them both hovering so close to his straining cock. "Please," he gasped. "I can't wait."

Lester took the first couple of inches of Ryan's cock in his mouth and sucked, while Cutter wrapped his hand around the rest of it, stroking it rapidly. He used his other hand to roll Ryan's balls gently. He felt them starting to draw up closer to Ryan's body and tightened his grip on his cock.

Ryan cried out and thrust upwards, forcing his cock further into Lester's mouth. With an incoherent shout he came, almost tearing the sheet in his passion.

Lester swallowed everything, pulling back and wiping his lips with the back of his hand, while Cutter continued to stroke him, milking every last drop from Ryan's cock. When Ryan eventually reached out to bat his hand away Cutter leaned over and kissed Lester, tasting Ryan's come in his mouth and getting harder because of it.

Ryan groaned as he watched them. "You two look incredible like that, but it's your turn now. Fuck him hard, James. I want to watch you both come."

Cutter's eyes darkened and his cock got even harder. "Yes, James, fuck me. I want to feel what it's like when you lose some of that famous self-control and just let go."

Lester pushed Cutter backwards, first straddling Ryan's body and then moving over it to kneel next to Cutter as he slowly crowded him back until he was lying on the bed. He knelt over him and put his hands on either side of Cutter's head, before leaning down slowly and kissing him. He let the kiss steadily grow more heated until Cutter was holding his shoulders tightly and clinging to him as they kissed.

Cutter moaned in disappointment when Lester eventually pulled back, but Lester just smiled at him.

"I'm not nearly finished with you, Nick. Just stay still and be a good boy." He winked and then turned to reach for the lube. Ryan had beaten him to it though and held it out to him with a wicked smile.

"Is this what you were looking for?"

Lester chuckled and kissed him quickly. "Thank you." He put it on the bed next to Cutter and then bent down to take his cock into his mouth. He knew Cutter would enjoy being taken hard a lot more if he was already hard and aching when Lester started to prepare him, so he used everything he knew about what Cutter liked to bring him to the edge first. He took him all the way in and then slid back up with glacial slowness, pausing when he got to the head to tease it with his tongue, before moving back down again at the same achingly slow speed.

Cutter's head was moving back and forth restlessly on the pillow as Lester drove him insane. Finally, he couldn't take any more. "Enough!" he growled, tangling his fingers in Lester's hair and yanking him upwards and away from his aching cock. "You said you were going to fuck me, so do it!"

"You only had to ask," Lester told him with an innocent smile. Picking the tube of lubricant up again, he slicked two fingers instead of the one that he usually started with. Watching Cutter's face for any sign of hesitation he pushed them both into his lover's body. The sudden stretch forced a soft cry from Cutter, but there was no sign of pain and he gave no indication of wanting to stop, so Lester kept pushing them further into his body, raking them over his prostate. He thrust them in and out a couple of times, letting Cutter adjust to the sensation and then he hurriedly added a third.

Cutter was pushing back eagerly, trying to fuck himself on Lester's fingers, desperate to come now.

Ryan groaned and shifted, reaching down to squeeze his own cock. He'd known that this would be hot, but he hadn't expected to get hard again so soon after his own orgasm. At this rate he'd come before they'd even finished.

Lester grinned at him, feeling the normal feelings of arousal and excitement at knowing he was being watched, then he turned back to Cutter and pulled his fingers out. He hurriedly squeezed more lube onto them and coated his cock before gripping Cutter's thighs and pushing his legs back roughly. With one smooth thrust, he buried himself to the hilt in his lover's willing body.

Cutter cried out and his muscles clamped down around the invader before he managed to relax again and let Lester start moving. He reached up and took hold of his own legs and held them so that Lester could move his hands to the bed and support himself as he started fucking Cutter with short, sharp thrusts.

Lester leant forwards, forcing Cutter's legs back even further, and kissed him roughly, biting down on his lower lip, before pulling back, breathing hard.

Cutter gasped Lester's name and started trying to push back against Lester's thrusts as much as he could in this position. He squeezed down around him every time Lester thrust, making him thrust even harder and deeper.

Ryan propped himself up on one arm and insinuated his hand between Cutter's leg and his body so that he could take Cutter's cock in his hand and start stroking him in time with Lester's powerful thrusts.

"Fuck!" Cutter thrust into Ryan's hand and came, letting his legs fall back against Lester's shoulders and just lying there, pliant, as he continued to fuck him.

Lester groaned as Cutter's muscles squeezed him rhythmically when he came. He was close too and it only took another couple of thrusts before he was grunting Cutter's name and coming as well. He collapsed on top of his lover, making Cutter groan, but he made no move to push Lester off, so he decided to stay there while they both recovered.

Ryan brought his hand up to his mouth and licked his fingers clean of Cutter's come before wrapping it back around his own cock again. He didn't bother taking his time, only interested in getting off again before he slept. He squeezed and stroked, rubbing his thumb over the head and twisting his hand slightly. He moaned softly and came, slumping back against the pillows when he was done and turning his head to smile lazily at his lovers.

Lester smiled at him and reluctantly pulled out of Cutter's body, rolling to one side so that he and Ryan were sandwiching Cutter between them. He reached out to take Ryan's hand and pulled it to rest on Cutter's stomach. Then he grabbed a handful of tissues to clean himself and Cutter up, passing more to Ryan before tossing them onto the ground and pulling the duvet over all three of them.

Cutter muttered something incomprehensible and pulled Lester closer so that his head was pillowed on Cutter's shoulder and then started snoring, drawing a lazy chuckle from Ryan.

"I think he's got the right idea," Ryan said. "It's been a hell of a day and we could all do with a bit of an early night."

Lester nodded and closed his eyes. "We did a good job today," he said sleepily. "But I'm glad it's someone else's turn for a while." He forced his eyes open and smiled sleepily in Ryan's direction. "Thank you for arranging this. We needed it." He yawned widely and closed his eyes again. "Happy Christmas."

~*~*~*~*~

As soon as the noises outside its cave stopped, it crept to the entrance and looked out. The strange predators had gone now and its mate's body had been taken as well. It retreated back into the darkness of the cave and crouched down by its prey. It would need a hearty meal before leaving the cave because it had no idea if or when it would be able to hunt again now that its mate was dead.

When it had eaten its fill it trotted towards the back of the cave where it had made its bed. Nudging the warm bodies there and making soft noises in the back of its throat it reassured them that it hadn't abandoned them, before picking the first cub up by the scruff of its neck and resolutely heading out into the darkness and the cold beyond the safety of its cave. For nearly an hour it struggled through the snow until it found the new hiding place. Dropping the cub on the ground, it urged it to curl up and then turned and retraced its steps across the hillside. Four times it made this journey, each time harder than the last as the snow fell again, muffling the few sounds that its passage made and slowly filling the footprints it had left in the snow.

When they were all safe it curled up as far back into the shelter as it could get and rolled onto its side. The cubs would need to feed. They would need to be fat and healthy before it could leave them alone long enough to try and find more prey.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The next morning, as soon as the sun was up, the soldiers were back at the cave where Ryan had been attacked. The snow had fallen heavily overnight and almost all the signs of the previous day's events had been obliterated, only a faint trace of blood still staining the snow to say where the cat had lain after it had been killed.

Steeling themselves for the sight that they knew they would find inside the cave, the four soldiers dispatched to retrieve the body resolutely marched into the darkness. Moments later one of them re-emerged and leant on the rock cliff, clearly trying not to throw up.

The whole cave stank of death and blood, and the body had had lumps of flesh ripped off of it. The victim would have to be formally identified from his dental records or his DNA, because not even his closest relatives would be able to recognise what was left. The unit medic shook his head sadly, he didn't envy the poor bugger who would have to do the post-mortem.

Hurriedly, the soldiers spread the body bag out on the floor of the cave and they carefully lifted the body and put it inside, zipping it up and shutting the horrific sight away. Then they loaded the bag onto a stretcher and two of them lifted it up. They would take turns carrying it across the mile or so between them and the helicopter and then it would be taken to the nearest town so that it could be examined and an inquest could be held.

The stretcher felt frighteningly light, the body just didn't weigh as much as an adult male should and the two bearers had to concentrate on picking their way through the snow to keep their minds off of the reason why it was so light.

The commanding officer watched impassively as they emerged from the cave and then fell in behind them. He'd chosen to come with them and escort the victim back to the morgue personally, partly so that he could tell Sir James Lester that it had been done right. He had a feeling that getting on the irascible civil servant's bad side could do unpleasant things to his career prospects.

The rest of his men were still guarding what Lester had called an 'anomaly' but other than freezing their arses off overnight, nothing had happened. He sincerely hoped it would remain that way. He didn't know how Lester's men dealt with fighting sabre-toothed cats and dinosaurs and whatever else came through the anomalies, but it freaked the hell out of him. Give him an insurgent with an automatic weapon any day. At least you knew where you were with them.

~*~*~*~*~

 

Lester, Ryan, and Cutter didn't emerge from their room until nearly noon, but Mrs Maguire didn't say anything about their tardiness, merely smiled warmly at them and told them to sit themselves down while she got the tea. Three of her full English breakfasts and two pots of tea later, the men were beginning to feel more like themselves again.

"So, are we going on that walk?" Ryan asked eagerly.

Lester sighed and rolled his eyes, but still nodded. "Yes, we'll go. I know you need regular exercise as well as vast amounts of food," he teased. "It's something like having a dog..."

Ryan reached over and smacked the side of his head, glaring at Cutter when the other man burst out laughing. "Come on, laughing boy. Get up and go and find your coat and boots, and you too James. We're going to go for a nice brisk stroll and then I'll let you come back and we can all go an warm up together." He leered playfully at the two men and they laughed again. The three of them got up and stretched before bustling around and finding their outdoor gear again and setting out, still laughing and teasing one another.

Ryan pulled them both close, linking his arms with them as he walked. It wasn't the easiest way to progress through the soft snow, but he was enjoying having the freedom to do it. They couldn't do anything in public when they were back in London, partly because they were a threesome and partly because they both worked for Lester and he couldn't risk being taken off the project. It was too important and it might be a tiny bit egotistical but Lester didn't trust anyone else with the idea of time travel and anomalies. Too much damage could be done if it wasn't handled right. Leek and Christine had proven that.

Once they had got out of sight of the house and were on more level ground, Cutter pulled away from the two of them and scooped up a handful of snow.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" Lester asked, suspiciously. "You're a little too old to be making snowmen, aren't you?"

He'd barely finished speaking when the snow hit him in the face and left him spluttering. He stayed totally still for a second and then smiled evilly. "Oh you are going to pay for tha,t Nicholas Cutter," he promised.

Bending down he scooped up his own handful of snow, deftly moulding it into a snowball and advancing on Cutter menacingly.

Cutter grabbed for more snow as well as he tried to back away, but he wasn't quick enough and Lester's snowball exploded into a cloud of icy dust as it hit his face, snow slipping down inside the slightly open neck of his coat and making him yelp.

Ryan laughed openly as the two men both started gathering more ammunition and then let fly with his own snowballs, one for each of his lovers.

Lester yelped as he was caught unawares by the new attack and he turned towards Ryan. "Oh that is it. I am going to get you as well!"

The three of them scooped up more snow and soon the snowballs were flying thick and fast. Each ball was thrown as soon as it was formed and the speed might not have done much for their aim but the sheer amount of snow being thrown around meant it wasn't long before they were all covered in it.

With a loud yell, Lester launched himself at Ryan, tackling him into a snowdrift and then following him down, both of them too busy trying to stuff snow inside each other's coat to pull themselves out.

Cutter stomped over, trying to keep a straight face, and leant down to help them up, muttering about idiots and chills and how he wasn't running around after them if they got sick. He realised his mistake just a fraction of a second too late and tried to back away again, but he wasn't fast enough. Ryan and Lester both reached up and grabbed his outstretched hands, pulling him into the snow between then and rubbing his face into it until he begged for mercy.

All three of them were laughing too hard to carry on the fight and they lay there, gasping for breath and occasionally bursting into new fits of laughter until the cold started to seep through their clothing.

"Ugh," Lester complained, starting to shiver. "I'm freezing." He jumped to his feet and brushed as much of the snow off as he could before straightening up again and stretching. When Ryan and Cutter had both done the same he wrapped his arms around their waists and brushed quick kisses against their cheeks. "Come on, let's get home and take advantage of the huge shower and the endless supply of hot water that the bed and breakfast seems to have. Then we can see what Mrs Maguire has cooked for dinner. I've worked up an appetite for some reason."

Ryan laughed again and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I could definitely eat. Hey, do you realise it's Christmas Eve?"

"I'd lost track of time, what with everything else," Cutter admitted. "Happy Christmas to both of you."

Lester tugged both of them back towards the bed and breakfast. "Let's get back," he said. "And then if you're both very good boys and eat all your dinner, you can open your presents before bed."

~*~*~*~*~


End file.
